World

Clinton has twice as much cash to spend on campaigning than rival Trump

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Picture by Andrew Harnik/AP
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Picture by Andrew Harnik/AP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Picture by Andrew Harnik/AP

DONALD Trump'S team has downplayed federal filings showing Hillary Clinton with an $85 million (£70m) cash advantage in the final stretch of the presidential campaign.

New fundraising records show her campaign and joint accounts with Democrats had $153m in the bank last week.

That is more than double the $68m the Republican's campaign and partnership committees had on hand.

Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence said the campaign's message matters more than "dollars and cents" and it is up to Mr Trump to decide if he wants to put more of his personal fortune into the campaign.

The latest contribution reports, up to date from Wednesday, show he had given only about $33,000 this month - far short of the $2m he typically gives.

Ms Clinton's continued fundraising edge in the latest filings, which cover the first 19 days of the month, helps ensure the Democratic nominee can maintain her sprawling political operation in the frantic final days of the race.

She maintains a staff of more than 800 - several times larger than Mr Trump's - and has spent more on advertising than the Republican in every week of the race.

But Mr Pence said he senses "real momentum" in the Republican campaign.

"This week, I saw all the headlines: 'The race is over. It's over and done'. That's just not what I see out there," he said.

The Indiana governor was making the rounds on the morning TV shows on Friday after his plane slid off the runway during a rainstorm at New York's LaGuardia Airport late on Thursday, tearing up concrete before coming to rest on a patch of grass.

No-one was injured and Mr Pence praised the "quick action" of his pilot, before moving on to campaign stops in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Mr Trump is holding events in New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine, one of two states that split their electoral voters by congressional district.

Facing an increasingly narrow path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, his campaign is shooting for one of the traditionally Democratic state's four electoral votes in the more rural, conservative second district.

Ms Clinton plans to campaign in Iowa, where new polling shows her in a dead heat with Mr Trump, erasing a lead he has maintained for much of the race.

Her campaign will also get a boost from President Barack Obama, whose national approval rating recently reached a new high. He will be holding an evening rally in Orlando, a key battleground area of the crucial swing state of Florida.

White House officials say Mr Obama will be travelling to boost Ms Clinton nearly every day until election day on November 8. The president's appearance comes a day after Ms Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama held a joint campaign rally in North Carolina.

At the raucous rally, Mrs Obama passionately touted Ms Clinton's experience and denounced Mr Trump as too divisive and thin-skinned for the White House.