Obama's campaign raises $40 mln in March

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The campaign team for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced Thursday that it had raised about 40 million U.S. dollars in March alone, indicating his strong momentum as a forerunner in the presidential nomination race.

More than 442,000 donors chipped in for Obama's effort to be the first African-American president in the country with over 218,000 first-time donors, making the average contribution level 96 dollars, his campaign said.

"Today we're seeing the American people's extraordinary desire to change Washington, as tens of thousands of new contributors joined the more than a million Americans who have already taken ownership of this campaign for change," said Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe.

The huge financial haul is a big boost to the Illinois Senator as he is facing showdowns with Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries of Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina.

Clinton's campaign said Wednesday it expected Obama to exceed her fundraising amount in March, but it still had adequate resources to stay in the contest.

The New York Senator recorded 4-million-dollar fundraising in two days after she surprisingly beat Obama in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island primaries on March 4.

Obama raised about 55 million dollars in February for his campaign, the highest amount of fundraising for any White House contender in a single month.

Both campaigns are joint top fundraisers in the entire presidential field, raising about 100 million dollars each in 2007.