April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton parlayed her victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary into a pitch for funds, and her campaign said she raised $2.5 million in the hours after the polls closed.

``We can only keep winning if we can keep competing with an opponent who keeps on spending so massively,'' the New York senator said at her victory rally in Philadelphia. ``The future of this campaign is in your hands.''

Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said the money came in less than three hours after voting ended. He called it ``our best fundraising night ever.''

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has outpaced Clinton in fundraising as he has taken the lead in the Democratic nomination race. He started the month with $42.5 million to spend compared with about $8 million for Clinton, who also reported $10.3 million in unpaid bills.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and U.S. Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, both Clinton supporters, said in interviews that they expected her Pennsylvania primary victory to make it easier to bring in cash.

``There are a lot of people who are deeply enthusiastic. The money will be there,'' Corzine said, adding that he planned to make calls to contributors tomorrow.

Campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Clinton would raise more in April than the $20 million she took in last month, an amount that was less than half that raised by Obama.

``He outspent us. Who cares? We're getting our message out and we're winning elections,'' McAuliffe said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Philadelphia at lwoellert@bloomberg.net; Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 22, 2008 23:44 EDT