Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama began February with about $10 million more to spend than rival Hillary Clinton as they prepared for a slew of primary and caucus battles, regulatory filings show.

Obama, an Illinois senator, yesterday reported that he had $19 million in cash that could be used for the fight for the nomination. Clinton had about $9 million and would have had even less if she hadn't loaned her campaign $5 million.

Obama used the extra money to buy advertising and build a network of campaign workers throughout the U.S. that helped him chalk up recent wins over Clinton, a New York senator and the one-time front-runner. Much of Clinton's cash in January went to ads and consultants; chief strategist Mark Penn's firm got $3.8 million. Adviser Mandy Grunwald's company got $761,786.

``Hillary Clinton's `inevitable' march to the nomination has shrunk to a last-stand effort,'' said Rogan Kersh, associate dean of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. Clinton now has to focus her efforts on the March 4 contests in Texas and Ohio and an April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, he said.

Obama, 46, yesterday filed a report with the Federal Election Commission showing he had $24.9 million in cash at the end of January. Included in that sum was about $5.9 million in donations for the general election that can only be used if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee and decides to opt out of the public financing system.

Clinton's Cash

Clinton, 60, had $29.2 million in cash, according to her report. Her campaign said she was holding about $20 million in general-election contributions. In addition, Clinton had $7.6 million in debt, including the $5 million loan. Obama's campaign had $1.1 million in debt at the end of last month.

Clinton told reporters on Feb. 6 that she decided to loan her campaign money because Obama had out-raised her by so much in January. The two contenders split victories the day before, on Feb. 5, when 22 states held Democratic caucuses or primaries.

``I believe very strongly in this campaign,'' Clinton said at a press conference at her national headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. ``We had a great month fundraising in January, but my opponent was able to raise more money. We intended to be competitive and we were. I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment.''

Total Fundraising

Obama raised $36.1 million last month, while Clinton brought in $13.9 million. For the entire campaign, Obama has raised $138.2 million, compared with $121 million for Clinton.

While much of Obama's money came in small donations over the Internet, he also again benefited from the support of Wall Street. Employees of New York's Goldman Sachs Group Inc. contributed $52,923 to Obama, compared with $14,350 for Clinton.

Obama received $57,119 from Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. employees and $55,656 from Mountain View, California-based Google Inc. employees. Clinton's biggest company donors last month were the employees of the lawyer-lobbying firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP who gave $29,750.

Both Democrats spent heavily in January. Obama, 46, doled out $30.5 million during the month -- almost $1 million a day -- bringing his total spending for the campaign to $115.6 million. Clinton spent $28.5 million in January and a total of $108.9 million so far on her White House bid. Obama spent $18.2 million on ads, compared with $11 million for Clinton.

February

Obama's campaign said it raised $7.6 million in the 48 hours after the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5. While his campaign has refused to disclose total February fundraising figures, it reported that more than 900,000 people have contributed, including 500,000 since Jan. 1.

Clinton campaign aides said she has raised more than $15 million so far in February.

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain of Arizona raised $11.7 million and borrowed almost $1 million more last month. He has now brought in $49.2 million for the campaign.

At the end of January, McCain had $5.2 million in the bank and $5.5 million in debts, including $4 million in loans. He spent almost as much last month as he took in -- $10.5 million -- bringing his total campaign spending to $49.7 million.

McCain's campaign said in January that he would not accept federal funds in exchange for limiting his spending, and asked the FEC to withdraw his certification. FEC Chairman David Mason said in a Feb. 19 letter that the commission would act on the request once it had enough members to form a quorum. Mason asked McCain to show that he did not rely on the promise of federal funds to secure the $4 million in loans.

Republican rival Mike Huckabee had $929,401 in the bank at the beginning of February and $54,209 in debts. He raised $4 million in January as he began the month by winning the Iowa caucuses. Since beginning his campaign, Huckabee, the 52-year-old former governor of Arkansas, has raised $13 million and spent $12.1 million, including $5 million last month.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net; Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 21, 2008 18:39 EST