Obama campaign fund increases to nearly $80 mln

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The total fund democratic Senator Barack Obama raised for the 2008 presidential elections has increased to nearly 80 million U.S. dollars for the year, following another sharp growth by more than 19 million dollars in the third quarter, his campaigner said on Monday.

    The total amount made him continue to top the fundraising list, at least for now, before the rest of runners officially file their financial reports with the Federal Election Commission later this month.

    Obama's summer fundraising included donations from 93,000 new contributors, adding the overall contributors to 352,000 this year, his aides said. Since the beginning of the year, the Illinois Senator has received nearly 75 million dollars for the primaries and about 4 million dollars for the general elections.

    Another democratic candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also announced on Monday that he had raised 5.2 million dollars from July through September, bringing the total for the year to 18.4 million dollars.

    Former Senator John Edwards, who is considered the third most hopeful following New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama, earlier reported raising about 7 million dollars during the quarter for a total of 30 million dollars for the year.

    Foreseeing even more competitive fundraising as the polls loom, Edwards announced last week that he would accept public financing of his campaign during the primaries, a move that might give him an infusion of several million dollars.