Obama Raised $40 Million Last Month, Campaign Says (Update2)

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama raised more than $40 million in March, his campaign said, bringing to more than $234 million the amount he has collected since he began running for president last year.

Obama entered March with more to spend on the remaining primaries than his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton. His haul last month provided millions more to spend for primaries in Pennsylvania on April 22 and Indiana and North Carolina on May 6.

The Illinois senator spent $2 million on broadcast ads in those three states since the beginning of March, while Clinton has spent $500,000 in Pennsylvania and hasn't been on the air elsewhere, according to Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of Arlington, Virginia-based Campaign Media Analysis Group. The Clinton campaign said it will begin running TV ads in North Carolina tomorrow.

In the last two months alone, Obama has raised more than $95 million, including a record $55.4 million in February. Arizona Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, raised $60.2 million for his entire campaign through Feb. 29.

The Obama campaign said it received donations from more than 442,000 people last month, including 218,000 who gave for the first time. The total number of donors is now 1.3 million.

Obama reached $200 million in donations faster than any other presidential candidate. In 2004, President George W. Bush passed that mark in April and that year's Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, reached it in July.

Becoming `Partners'

``Senator Obama has always said that this campaign would rise or fall on the willingness of the American people to become partners in an effort to change our politics and start a new chapter in our history,'' campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement.

New York Senator Clinton has yet to disclose her March fundraising, and campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said the total won't match Obama's.

``We will have significant resources to compete and be successful, but we know Senator Obama will outspend us significantly,'' Wolfson said yesterday on a conference call.

Candidates must report March's fundraising figures to the Federal Election Commission by April 20.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.