LJWorld.com

New Orleans — Battling for every dollar and delegate, Barack Obama raised $7.2 million in Super Tuesday's wake and Hillary Rodham Clinton pulled in $6.4 million, stunning totals reflecting the intensity of their neck-and-neck race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Keenly aware of Obama's growing strength, Clinton challenged him to five debates in the next month. Obama initially put her off, then later agreed to two.

"We'll have some debates," Obama promised. But first, he said, "I've got to spend time with voters." Clinton, he argued, is better-known to voters in states coming up on the primary calendar.

Clinton, who loaned her campaign $5 million in the run-up to Super Tuesday, brushed aside the notion she has money problems. She pointed to the roughly even split of delegates still being allocated from Tuesday's primaries and caucuses as evidence her campaign has the financial muscle to compete.

"We're going to be fine," Clinton said. "By the end of the week, we'll be back on track."

Top Clinton advisers offered to work without pay, but that wasn't necessary with the sudden influx of cash.

National campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe, in a conference call with 300 Clinton fundraisers nationwide, assured them: "All staff 100 percent paid. Not an issue."

Indeed, whatever the current balance in the money chase, both candidates have been raising and spending incredible sums.

Each raised $100 million last year and sped through at least $80 million. That compared to $128 million raised by all the Democratic candidates combined during 2003, the comparable period four years ago. President Bush, running uncontested, pulled in $129 million of his own that year.

Any financial crunch for Clinton would be largely due to lopsided fundraising in January, when Obama pulled in $32 million to her $13.5 million.

"Obama was able to do what no one thought possible, which is to finance Super Tuesday," said Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Maine. "He was able to advertise in more states, went on TV earlier in more states and put more resources into ground efforts in most of these states."

Looking ahead, Corrado said, the question for Clinton is whether she will have the cash needed for expensive advertising campaigns in upcoming contests, including Ohio, Wisconsin and Texas.

"Obama's donor base continues to expand, so it's doubtful that she is going to be able to catch up," Corrado said, calling Obama an "unexpected financial colossus."

Clinton, as a former first lady, has had the advantage of better name recognition; Obama's recent financial advantage has helped him overcome that familiarity gap.

Obama, asked about Clinton's recent personal loan to her campaign, said it showed "she has not generated the kind of grass-roots enthusiasm that we have."

He's confident enough of his standing now to be choosy in the debate over debates.

Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle on Thursday sent the Obama camp a proposal for five one-on-one debates before the March 4 round of primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.

After putting off the request, Obama's campaign announced later in the day that he would participate in two debates before March 4, one in Cleveland and the other in Texas.