Obama tries to narrow fundraising gap

PARK CITY, Utah -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama stopped in this affluent ski resort town Sunday to narrow the nearly $4 million fundraising lead of rival Hillary Rodham Clinton before campaigning in the crucial early caucus state of Nevada.

Obama was hoping to tap into a small-but-wealthy group of Utah Democrats who are trying to influence the presidential election through their fundraising efforts.

He expected a couple dozen supporters at a brief public appearance before his private fundraiser. Instead, hundreds had gathered at Utah Olympic Park to greet the Illinois senator.

''Wow. This is great,'' Obama said to his cheering supporters in a state that is dominated by Republicans.

Obama was originally scheduled to go straight to the Park City home where the $500 per person fundraiser was to be held. But supporters lobbied his campaign, which on Saturday added the brief stop at the site of the 2002 Olympic ski jumping, luge, bobsled and skeleton events.

Utah is known for voting Republican and President Bush won the state with 72 percent of the vote in the 2004 election. The GOP controls nearly every office in state government.

Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports indicate that trend will likely continue. Republican candidates raised more than $4 million in Utah through June, while Democratic candidates had raised only $275,000.

Walt Hecht, a former Republican, said he made the nearly 300-mile trip from St. George to see Obama. Hecht was on his way to the fundraiser and stopped by to hear the candidate's brief speech.

''He's the only candidate I've listed to that makes sense,'' Hecht said. ''He says what he believes and isn't speaking to get votes. He isn't listening to the polls, So I trust him.''

The Obama fundraiser was only a few miles from Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vacation home at Deer Valley, the ritzy ski resort nearly Park City.

The former governor of Massachusetts and head of the 2002 Winter Olympics has broad support in Utah and has raised more than $3.8 million in the state, according to FEC reports.

Before Sunday's fundraiser, Obama had raised about $51,000 in Utah, nearly all of that from supporters in Salt Lake City.

In Nevada, where Obama was headed to campaign in later Sunday, he had raised about $105,000.