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Speaking on an ongoing conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said that Hillary Clinton raised $15 million in the first 15 days of February, which he attributed to a "grassroots response" to news that Clinton had made a $5 million personal loan to the campaign.

Fundraising "exploded after news of Senator Clinton's loan got out," Wolfson said, and he expects that the campaign will have the resources they need to compete with Barack Obama.

Wolfson began the call by managing expectations for tonight's contests in Wisconsin and Hawaii, noting that the Obama campaign had predicted "big victories" in the states. Clinton strategist Mark Penn later added that they always saw Wisconsin as "challenging."

The call also featured the campaign's Ohio and Texas state directors, who emphasized Clinton's strength in those states.

More to come.

UPDATE:

Robby Mook, the campaign's Ohio state director, said "she's not just here to make speeches, she's here to engage with everyday folks." The idea is to run a campaign that appeals to middle class voters. Also, the campaign will import farmers from upstate New York to travel to rural Ohio to talk about her record on agriculture.

Texas director Ace Smith described the "incredible enthusiasm" greeting Clinton in the Lone Star State, including a rally for 12,000 in El Paso. Smith said Clinton had 100,000 volunteers and 20 offices statewide, and vowed that she wouldn't concede any votes, not even the youth vote.

Both state directors emphasized Clinton's aggressive efforts in early and absentee voting. (Boy, this really is starting to sound like Giuliani, Take II.)
Penn declared that "this race is essentially a tie," because only 40 delegates separated Clinton and Obama. The problem with such analysis is that it includes superdelegates who can change their mind, and it doesn't account for the gains Obama is expected to make tonight with victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

The conventional wisdom is that Clinton will have to win Ohio and Texas by huge margins to come close enough to Obama in delegates that she can make a case to superdelegates. But what became clear in this call, is that the campaign will use even a small victory in these states to make the pitch that Clinton won the big states (NY, NJ, CA, OH, TX, FL, MI) and thus deserves to be the nominee. Penn said Clinton "won virtually every big state" and that this would be important heading into Pennsylvania "powerful in terms of superdelegates."

topics:
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, NATO