Clinton racks up cash record as Bloomberg rules out run

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Hillary Clinton's White House campaign raised 35 million dollars in February, aides said Thursday, but rival Barack Obama was expected to shatter that total with his own record-breaking number.

Advisors to the former first lady said the torrent of money flooding into campaign coffers left her well positioned to take on her Democratic adversary in make-or-break nominating contests next Tuesday in Ohio and Texas.

The billionaire mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, could have brought his own deep pockets into the presidential campaign but on Thursday he ruled out an independent challenge to the Republican-Democratic duopoly.

"I am not -- and will not be -- a candidate for president," Bloomberg, 66, wrote in The New York Times.

The former media mogul said he stood ready to back the presidential candidate who can offer independent leadership to heal the nation's political wounds -- but did not specify who that might be.