By Jennifer Parker

Apr 23, 2008 3:40pm

Clinton to Donors: Send Money

ABC News’ Kate Snow reports: On the day after her victory in Pennsylvania, Senator Hillary Clinton asked her biggest supporters to pony up and “max out” their donations to her campaign if they have not already done so.

“We have to raise a lot of money,” Clinton told the largest conference call of fundraisers ever organized by the campaign.  Organizers on the call said that some 3100 people were listening in. 

Clinton praised her fundraisers for helping her beat Obama even though he was able to outspend her in Pennsylvania by at least two to one. 

“Thanks to you we’ve once again defied the odds. We defied those who said we couldn’t do it, who said we should get out,” Clinton told her supporters.

But she said the road ahead would be difficult.

“I can’t do this without your help,” Senator Clinton said.  “I know you understand this, but boy is it a tremendous hill to climb.”

Since the announcement of last night’s victory—at around 10pm—campaign officials on the call said they have raised 10 million dollars online from some sixty thousand new donors.

Clinton called the race “very very close” overall.  In Indiana—which holds a primary on May 6– she said the race was “pretty close to even” and “we’ll turn on the steam now.”

Clinton did concede a bit of fatigue.

“We’ve been just running on fumes trying to work as hard as we can,” she said.  What her campaign can’t match with advertising dollars she said they would match with old-fashioned “shoe leather” canvassing and campaign events.

Clinton said she will be “forever grateful” to supporters who give the maximum amount to her coffers.

“We will have a tremendous victory when we wrap up this nomination,” she proclaimed.

Then after a pause she added quickly—seeming to catch herself forgetting the main event— “and we will go on and defeat John McCain”.

Reporters were not invited guests but ABC was able to monitor the call.

User Comments

Why are you asking the less fortunate for money?
Use your own $100+ million dollars.
Also, stop spending $10 million on consultants and silk linens at your events.

Posted by: Debbie | April 23, 2008, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm

why doesnt she donate to her campaign like Romney did (instead of a meager 5 million loan)? If she is so committed to her run for the nomination, she should put her $100 million where her mouth is. Otherwise, isn’t she being hypocritical in asking others to support her candidacy when she won’t herself?

Posted by: bernadette | April 23, 2008, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm

Yes, we will.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 3:49 pm 3:49 pm

No, we won’t!!!

Posted by: Jackt51 -- Vietnam Vet and Proud Liberal | April 23, 2008, 3:51 pm 3:51 pm

It was a great call and we are donating she is the best person for the job 10mill. wow thats great I,m just glad I could help I guess being an uneducate nurse I don’t count as what Obama is looking for maybe they should learn not to tag people and they could get voters like us. I do drink wine and grind my own coffee beans does that count. go hillary old female and white ha!!!

Posted by: Bishop | April 23, 2008, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm

Hillary lacks the core of self and true voice that Obama possesses.
She has money, why cant she show example by donating as well. It looks like one way traffic!

Posted by: Peace | April 23, 2008, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm

It’s campaign.
Her own money is not for campaign.
At least she loaned some of it.
What Romney did was his own choice.
Obama has lots of billionaires behind him , that’s why he never ask you to donate.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm

You think axelrod is free gee I wonder who lives out in San Fran? Obama sold out a long time ago .Little donaters sure believe what you will.

Posted by: Bishop | April 23, 2008, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm

Peace,
Do you know how much they contributed to charity from their tax return?
They donated not to Black Community only as Obama did but to all kinds of people in this country.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm

Obama shuld drop out he can’t win he does not have core dems

Posted by: Bishop | April 23, 2008, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm

If Clinton has no shot why is Obama spending all this money??????????????

Posted by: geevill | April 23, 2008, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm

Debbie,
Sounds like you don’t like the fact that Hillary Clinton spanked Barack Obama in Pennsylvania. Sour grapes. More spankings to come. He outspent her five to one and still got stomped. What does that say about Obama’s ability to manage a campaign? Blow a lot of hot air, spend a lot of money, flick yor sleeve, flip a finger, and whoosh, you lose.
========================================
Obama and Bittergate, we shall never forget!

Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | April 23, 2008, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm

People will start donate more money to Hillary campaign because they saw she is a fighter and she has a chance to win.
If Obama only depends on working class people contributors he would not get 42 million per month and he would not able to afford his expensive campaign.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 4:13 pm 4:13 pm

HRC did not have an issue representing the Black Panthers during the height of their activities.

Posted by: Louis | April 23, 2008, 4:13 pm 4:13 pm

The US deserves Hillary Clinton for their President. I’m serious. We hate the facts. We hate the truth. We love to be part of the mob and beat down on those damn free thinkers. We are a nation of bullies who love to pile on the new guy and then laugh about it later while convincing ourselves that they deserved it. We’d prefer to be told what to do and what to think than decide for ourselves. Even when we are shown the lie, we will still accept it. We are her people. Obama thinks too highly of us.
Is there any doubt AT ALL in anyone’s mind that Hillary and/or Bill Clinton will lie at any opportunity if they believe it will serve them better than the truth? Be it over sexual relations with ‘that’ woman. I supported NAFTA while I was against it, or was it that she was against NAFTA while she supported it? Bringing peace to Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Sniper fire. Taxes. White House experience, 3 a.m. calls. I heard the recording of Bill Clinton saying that the Obama Campaign played the race card, and hours later he denied saying it at all. That has been a running theme in this campaign. Lay out an accusation to the press of active wrongdoing on the part of the Obama campaign, no proof, mind you, only an accusation and then pretend you said no such thing when confronted with the fact that the accusation is unfounded.
The press is complicit. the bigger the whopper, the more coverage it will get. Was the Rev. Wright thing, or the bitter comments, really that much of a story or did they become the big story because everyone felt a need to tear down the new guy. The fact the Hillary Clinton lied, or misspoke about her trip to Bosnia did not get half the coverage of Wright. The fact that she said quite clearly that she would commit US troops to any Mid-East conflict and directly threatened Iran (who according to the NIE has no viable nuke program, the NIE was right about Iraq, I see no reason to doubt them here). No press, no massive outcry of war hawkishness, foreign policy naiveté, no pre-emptive rush to war, again.
Hillary Clinton has lied to us, hidden things from us, misled us on her policies and positions. Has all but ceased presenting the merits of her case to be the President in favor of attacking her opponent to make you vote against him rather than for her. She knows what we are; scared monkeys that wait for the crack of the whip to know which way to jump instead of selecting a path for ourselves that will lead away from that torture all together.
Hillary Clinton says she is only doing what the Republicans were going to do against Obama anyway. If that is the case, what makes her different from any other Republican? what makes her different from George Bush for that matter? Her plans for social security is the same as his, form a committee and wait. Attacking Iran is on her agenda, the same as his. She will listen to the Generals on the ground in Iraq to decide what to do, just as he does. She has made impossible promises during the campaign that the office of the President cannot deliver on. When they evaporate and she is branded a liar, she will say she only misspoke, or that it is ‘their’ fault, or she will simply gloss over it and present a new shiny thing to get our attention. HRC is the secret Republican candidate. Obama is the only candidate left in the race that does not have a Republican agenda and does not use republican tactics. Pointing and blaming to win at politics has been successful for a long time.
I’ll say it again. We are a nation of bullies and thugs. We will follow the person who is picking on the other guy, because we don’t want them picking on us. As a mob we will accept lies for truth if we hear it loud and long enough, even when the facts are held up to us brightly.
Here are some examples of some truths that people don’t care about and find it more acceptable to believe the lie:
Obama is and has not been a Muslim, in faith or practice. – There has never been anything other than innuendo to suggest otherwise. He was not sworn in on the Koran.
Obama loves America. – Not just because he says it, but because for over 20 years he has worked avidly on the behalf of his fellow citizens. If you believe that the end all be all of patriotism is encompassed by a lapel pin, that is exactly what the rising socialist party in Germany believed in the 30′s when they required their members to wear their pins to prove loyalty.
Obama is not an elitist. – He grew up with divorced parents without any great wealth. Went to school on scholarship and student loans. Did not have significant financial success until after publishing a book. Still the least wealthy candidate in the race. That said being elite is a good thing, he is well educated, articulate, and intelligent, with high levels of compassion and empathy and has a highly organized and tactical mind. We should want someone who is the best of the best, or elite, to be the President. Of the three remaining candidates, I would say that Obama has the most and most recent experience actually working on the front lines for the people in this country.
Not everyone Obama ever knew or met tells him what to think, or will somehow have influence over him as President. – We all know people that we have significant differences with, some we work with, some we associate with, some we know in passing. Rarely could any of them dictate to us what we think and believe. Certainly even fewer than that would be able to tell us how we do our jobs. No other candidate is being held to that standard.
Obama has not been vetted – Please find me another candidate that has had his patriotism questioned so openly and baldly. Show me another candidate who has had investigations into his life and his writings played across the press going back to his days in kindergarten. Find me another candidate that had so little to be found in his own life to attack that the Republican opposition, including Hillary Clinton has had to resort to not only making things up out of whole cloth but also attacking anyone he knew for longer than 10 minutes for something they may have said or done, sometimes prior to ever having met the candidate.
The Republicans and HRC are counting on people to not think. To be afraid, to not trust what is different. To listen more to a 30 second commercial that not so subtly and completely falsely tries to connect her opponent to a terrorist. Obama thinks that you are better than that, that you will read the positions and policies and make a decision on what is best for the country.
I know better. HRC and the Republicans want to incite a lynch mob and are doing a good job with it. Like that lynch mob you will surely feel guilty tomorrow, maybe even a little ashamed for being so easily led, but you are marching along today, chest puffed out and holding your heads high.
If you believe the polls, over half the registered democrats believe her to be untrustworthy, nearly 60% in the last poll. A blip on the news, Obama’s bowling score got more coverage. yet she continues to be competitive. Why? Because Americans know they can trust a lying politician to lie and can accept that but a truthful politician cannot be withstood. Someone who calls us to be our better selves must be defeated, because to be our better selves would force us to face that we have been less than we should have been, and we can’t have that.
Hillary Clinton has been clear that she is willing to win at any cost. While we may want to admire that sentiment, take a moment to think about it. She is willing to sacrifice anything and everything to win. The reason this sounds familiar is because it is the same philosophy the current administration has of its agenda.
You’ll probably win HRC. You will do whatever is necessary to do so, and your opponent will continue to appeal to our better angles in the false belief that they are there to hear him. Americans do not want the audacity of hope. They do not want responsibility, they do not want truth. It is easier to mumble “No we can’t” than the other thing. We crave the juicy gossip, the innuendo, and the boldest of lies, the cheap shot, it is just more entertaining. Hillary likes to keep us beating up on the new guy, because she feels she has already gotten her lumps. In the face of not having anything to beat him up on, she can make stuff up, we don’t care. we just prefer to beat someone down than lift, even ourselves, up.
Obama, America doesn’t want hope. They want grist for the mill. Call Hillary Clinton the alternate Republican candidate. Tell them if it walks, talks and campaigns like a Republican…Flat our call her a racist for associating with racists. Say she is an elitist of the first order that hasn’t done an honest day’s hard work in her adult life. Call her a warmonger who does not truly regret or apologize for her vote to go to war and eagerly awaits the chance to bomb Iran. That she has pimped her daughter and ridden the coattails of her philandering husband to win an election. Call her a liar to her face at the next debate.
By going so negative, the press will brand you a liar on you mission of change, THEN American will trust you.

Posted by: Louis | April 23, 2008, 4:14 pm 4:14 pm

Bob Casey has failed to confince Pennsylvanians to vote for Obama.
What a shame .

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm

Louis well said>>>>>>>Amen……..
She is asking for money she wants her 5 mil back and wants all of you to pay the 10 mil she is in debt>>>>Method to her madness..I am thinking the 3.5 mil she got last night was all in 3200.00 and they came from foreign countries or her underground buddies>>>>>>>>>She wants Mi and Fl so she will be close but if they change the rules mid stream I will be one to scream to the Dec party loud and clear.Set the rules and stick to them no two sets, the rest of the country followed suit and waited,,,,,

Posted by: h | April 23, 2008, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm

Lesson to Kennedy and Kerry. Bob Casey’s county voted 74% to Hillary.
Wake up super delegates.
Hillary 08

Posted by: Rick | April 23, 2008, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm

Come HRC – get your lobbist and rich friends to donate more money to your losing campaign. Somebody needs to tell her that she is NOT leading in popular votes (FL and MI don’t count because they broke the rules) and she isn’t ahead in delegates either. So come rich white friends of the Clintons – pony up more of your money for a losing cause!

Posted by: jozy | April 23, 2008, 4:29 pm 4:29 pm

I am glad that PA showed Obama what gun totin, bible thumping bigots can do. OBAMA NO YOU CAN’T!

Posted by: J | April 23, 2008, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm

Jozy.
Think about it why Hillary does not get money from big contributors as Obama does.
Smart people know how to figure this out.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm

crisis08, the Clintons’ charity went to the Clinton Foundation- the rest is very clear: the right hand giving to the left hand. God save America. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.

Posted by: BKMC | April 23, 2008, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm

Clinton Foundation has been working to help humanitarian works which Katrina victims on of them.

Posted by: crisis08 | April 23, 2008, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm

For those of you who think that Hillary can just whip out a checkbook. She got reamed the last time she loaned her campaign 5 mil AND she’s trying to prove a point that she can fundraise with the best of Obama’s online campaign. People SHOULD donate to her cause. She has been working her BUTT to show the American people that she has what it takes to fight for them. She wants to end foreclosures, get new jobs, and FINALLY get healthcare for America!

Posted by: Darla | April 23, 2008, 8:36 pm 8:36 pm

WestCoast – and how many delegates did she net there?

Posted by: Paul | April 24, 2008, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm

If Hillary win’s this somehow Lie and cheat!!!! Many of the people here in Minnesota will vote McCain!

Posted by: Tim, MPLS,MN | April 24, 2008, 5:37 pm 5:37 pm

Once again Bill and Hillary are playing you…..The Clintons made $109 million dollars for Pete’s sake. But just like unscruptulous they ask common folk to contribute hard earned savings…..No thanks..

Posted by: indy_voter | April 25, 2008, 10:54 am 10:54 am

The Clinton’s made $109 million in 7 years. Imagine how much Bill could charge for his influence if Hillary is president. I bet he could double the $109 in the first two years. $800,000 for supporting CAFTA seems like a great deal. With Hillary as president, I bet he doesn’t do a speaking engagement for less than $5,000,000.

Posted by: X marks the spot | April 25, 2008, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm

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