October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

WASHINGTON, Oct 2: Pacesetting Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Tuesday trumped top rival Senator Barack Obama, piling up $27 million in the latest round of the 2008 fundraising stakes.

But Obama launched a new bid to slice Senator Clinton’s opinion poll lead, claiming she had blundered on the most important US foreign policy question since the Cold War – by voting to authorise the invasion of Iraq.

The latest jab and counter-jab between the heavyweight Democrats came as the 2008 race accelerated towards first party nominating contests, in just over three months.

Clinton’s campaign trumpeted her latest fundraising triumph, which saw her bring in $27 million in the last three months, of which $22 million can be lavished on her primary campaign.

Obama aides unveiled his take for the third quarter of 2007 on Monday and touted his $19 million in primary funding as proof Clinton was not running away with the Democratic nomination.

The former first lady, who leads national and most state Democratic polls ahead of the 2008 contest, also claimed she had attracted more than 100,000 new donors in the period.

Obama laid claim to 93,000 more donors on Monday.

Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said in a statement that Clinton had raised “substantially more than any other candidate in the race”. Five million dollars of the third quarter bounty can be used only in a general election, in the event that Clinton wins the Democratic nomination.

Clinton’s huge three-month windfall came as a surprise, as her aides had been reported as carefully saying she expected to raise about as much as Obama.

The New York Senator’s team also withheld their announcement until Tuesday morning, possibly seeking to steal a headline from his major foreign policy speech in Chicago.

According to excerpts released by his campaign, Obama took aim at Clinton’s 2002 vote to authorise war in Iraq, on the fifth anniversary of a speech he gave before joining the Senate, opposing the conflict.

“There is a choice that has emerged in this campaign, one that the American people need to understand,” Obama said.

“Who got the single most important foreign policy decision since the end of the Cold War right, and who got it wrong?” This is not just a matter of debating the past. It’s about who has the best judgment to make the critical decisions of the future.” Obama is trying to rebut claims by the Clinton campaign that he is too inexperienced to be president, by casting doubt on his rival’s foreign policy judgement.

He also used the foreign policy speech to propose a world free of nuclear weapons, and said Washington should abide by nuclear agreements to set an example for its foes like Iran and North Korea.

Quarterly fundraising figures are a closely watched barometer of the presidential race, offering hints on a candidate’s popularity, and capacity to buy crucial television advertising and wage a long nominating campaign.—AFP