Washington: Hillary Clinton entered the final phase of her presidential bid with a resounding campaign cash advantage over Donald Trump.
New fundraising reports show her campaign and joint accounts with Democrats had $153 million in the bank as of last week. That’s more than double the $68 million Mr Trump’s campaign and partnership committees had on hand.
Ms Clinton’s continued fundraising advantage helps ensure the Democratic nominee can keep her sprawling political operation at full strength 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 has every single week of the race.
Over the course of the primary and general elections, Ms Clinton’s campaign has hauled in $513 million, roughly double what Mr Trump’s has. She outpaced him again in the first 19 days of October, the new reports show, when her campaign reaped $53 million as his brought in about $30 million.
While Mr Trump, a New York businessman who says he is worth $10 billion, typically makes a personal contribution of about $2 million each month, he had not done so yet in October. The latest contribution reports, up to date as of Wednesday, show he had given only about $33,000.
The candidates and many outside groups involved in the presidential race are filing their final pre-election fundraising reports on Friday The filings cover the first 19 days of the month.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump on Friday said he’d like to “cancel the election” and be declared the winner. “Just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump,” he said during a rally here, adding “Why are we even having it for?”
