US election at-a-glance: 1 Feb

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DAY IN A NUTSHELL

Details of the candidates' 2007 fourth-quarter fundraising efforts emerge, revealing that Hillary Clinton outraised Barack Obama by $3.5m (£1.75m) in the last three months of 2007 and that John McCain was obliged to take out a special life insurance policy in order to qualify for a $3m (£1.5m) loan. Mr Obama receives endorsements from the liberal campaign group MoveOn and from the California branch of the SEIU, a large union which had previously been backing John Edwards.

<a class="bodl" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7155746.stm">Primary roadmap</a>

KEY QUOTES

"My mother used to say: 'You're not what you say you are, you're what you do and the best way to see what you're going to do is to see what you've done'. And that's why I'm supporting Hillary Clinton."Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Super Tuesday will be one for the books with surprises as great as the chattering class has had to digest in a long, long time Hugh HewittTown Hall.com <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7220912.stm">At-a-glance: 31 Jan</a>

"We need a President who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America's standing in the world... Senator Barack Obama has proved he can and will be that President."Liberal campaign group MoveOn.org endorses Barack Obama

"McCain has to transition from being an underdog to being a front-runner. He has to transition from being an insurgent to being the leader of a broad center-right coalition. He has to transition from being a primary season scrambler to offering a broader vision of how to unify the country."David Brooks, New York Times

"Conservatives have to decide right now if they will fight for Romney and the party of Reagan against the mainstream media-generated McCain resurrection. I think they will, and that Super Tuesday will be one for the books with surprises as great as the chattering class has had to digest in a long, long time." Hugh Hewitt, Town Hall.com

NUMBER NEWS

An analysis of US political advertising published today by TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG shed light on the candidates' different campaign strategies.

In total, the candidates have spent $107m (£54m) on TV advertising since the beginning of 2007, of which $43m (£22m) was spent in Iowa alone.

For the Republicans, Mitt Romney spent $29m (£15m), more than three times the $8m (£4m) spent by his nearest rival, John McCain.

Barack Obama was the biggest-spending Democrat, with an outlay of $22.7m (£11.5m), $4m (£2m) more than Hillary Clinton, who spent $18.7m (£9.5m).

The analysts also examined the content of the adverts and found that of all the candidates, only one had aired no negative TV adverts - Mr Obama.

DAILY PICTURE

Mitt Romney has nothing to hide as he sets off from California to attend a campaign event in Denver, Colorado