Some Clinton staffers going without pay

WASHINGTON - Some of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign staff have voluntarily chosen to work without pay this month, NBC News confirmed Wednesday.

Super Tuesday's mixed outcome has set up at least four weeks of frenzied delegate hunting for Clinton and Barack Obama, pitting his well-financed all-terrain campaign against her big state strategy.

Clinton faced a serious cash crunch going into Tuesday's multi-state vote due to overspending in Iowa, a source within the campaign told NBC News. Staffers blamed campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who was among those working for free, the source said.

Clinton acknowledged Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5 million late last month as Obama was outraising and outspending her heading into Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests.

Buoyed by strong fundraising and a primary calendar in February that plays to his strengths, Obama plans a campaign blitz through a series of states holding contests this weekend and will compete to win primaries in the Mid-Atlantic next week and Hawaii and Wisconsin the following week. His campaign raised $3 million Wednesday in online contributions, a source from the Obama campaign told NBC News.

Focusing on Ohio, Texas
Clinton, with less money to spend and less confident of her prospects in the February contests, will instead concentrate her efforts on Ohio and Texas, large states that hold primaries March 4 and where polling shows her with a significant lead. She even is looking ahead to Pennsylvania's primary April 22, believing a largely elderly population there will favor the former first lady.

Clinton's personal loan illustrated her financial disadvantage and her desire to pick her targets with care. On Wednesday, she sent out an e-mail appeal to donors Wednesday seeking $3 million in three days — an effort, that if successful, would match the fundraising rate Obama averaged for the entire month of January.

"I loaned it because I believe very strongly in this campaign," Clinton told reporters Wednesday. "We had a great month fundraising in January, broke all records, but my opponent was able to raise more money and we intended to be competitive and we were."

"And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment."

Both campaigns claimed bragging rights for their Super Tuesday successes Wednesday while acknowledging it could be weeks or even months until either candidate has amassed enough delegates to win the party's nomination.

Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states while Clinton picked up eight and American Samoa with New Mexico left to be decided. Both camps claimed a small delegate lead, but an analysis by The Associated Press indicates there were still many to be counted.

Obama's fundraising wave
"We are going to try and contest every contest, and win as many delegates we can," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said. "If you look at the next month, we have a lot of confidence that we will hold the pledged delegate lead."

Video Among Democrats, everyone's a winner Feb. 6: While both the Obama and Clinton camps went into Super Tuesday as self-described underdogs, both were quick to claim victory in the end. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. Nightly News

Obama, riding a wave of fundraising both from large donors and small Internet contributors, raised a stunning $32 million in January. Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said last week the Clinton campaign raised only $13.5 million for the month. The $5 million loan was in addition to that amount, Wolfson said.

Clinton advisers were stunned by Obama's January fundraising and have marveled at his ability to raise small-dollar amounts from a vast field of donors.

"We will have funds to compete," chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn said, "but we're likely to be outspent again."

The Clinton camp was eager to take the luster off of Obama's status as a "movement candidate" who has generated unprecedented activism and fundraising through the Internet. Clinton strategists went out of their way to label him an "establishment candidate" and worked to pitch her message to online activists.

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