"Clinton cash crunch"

Show me the money!

Time Magazine has reported that senior Clinton campaign advisers have "voluntarily chosen to work without pay this month" as part of a "Clinton cash crunch" against the Obama campaign. In a sign of Obama's growing financial advantage, Clinton acknowledged Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5 million late last month as Obama was outraising and outspending her heading into Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests.

Clinton advisers were stunned by Obama's January fundraising and his ability to raise small-dollar amounts from a vast field of donors. Obama, riding a wave of fundraising both from large donors and small Internet contributors, raised a stunning $32 million in January. Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said last week the Clinton campaign raised only $13.5 million for the month. The $5 million loan was in addition to that amount.

"We will have funds to compete," chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn said, "but we're likely to be outspent again." Due to it's financial constraints, the campaign has chosen to concentrate on the upcoming big prizes of Ohio and Texas on March 4th, while writing off the contests between then and now:

Obama was heading late Wednesday to Louisiana, where he is favored to win the state's primary Saturday largely on his strength among black voters. He also planned to campaign in Nebraska and Washington state, which also hold contests that day.

Clinton was being more circumspect. She planned to campaign Thursday in Virginia, which holds its primary next Tuesday along with neighbors Maryland and the District of Columbia. She was also headed to Maine, which holds precinct caucuses Sunday.

Penn conceded the campaign would rely on surrogates to campaign for her in most of states holding contests Saturday, including President Clinton and daughter Chelsea. It was a tacit admission that the former first lady was unlikely to win any of those states outright.

Privately, her strategists have also largely written off her chances of winning the so-called Potomac primary Feb. 9, given the large black populations in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. They are also playing down her chances in the following week's major primaries _ Hawaii, where Obama grew up, and Wisconsin, which has virtually sealed the nomination for other Democrats in years past.

Wisconsin's Democratic electorate is largely liberal and college educated, and its open primary allows independents to vote _ all factors that favor Obama.

Clinton political director Guy Cecil insisted the campaign was competing hard in all those places. the campaign has paid staff in Wisconsin and as developed a strong grass-roots organization there.

The campaign, however, was clearly focused on the March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas, both of them offering a trove of delegates. But both states are have several media markets, making advertising an expensive proposition. A state wide race in Texas can cost $1 million a week in advertising.

Clinton faces significant fundraising obstacles ahead, raising the possibility that she might have to dip into the family's wealth again. The Clinton's financial disclosures, which reveal only broad ranges of assets, place their wealth between $10 and $50 million. Obama raised about a third of his money in 2007 from donors who gave $200 or less. Only one-third of his money came from donors who have given the legal maximum of $2,300, compared to Clinton who raised about half of her money from "maxed out" donors and only 14 percent from donors of $200 or less.