QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 11:37 AM)
Ok, so the official winner of the 1st quarter fundraising derby is Barack Obama. He didn't raise the most total money (he's $1 million behind what Hillarity raised) but Obama shows some huge fundamental advantages.
First, he's not nearly the "Establishment" candidate like Mrs. Clinton is. Mrs. Clinton has the old Clinton Network, and Bill, to make use of. Obama is coming up with a totally new network, and is virtually dead even with her.
Second, Mr. Obama drew a much, much larger net of donors than Mrs. Clinton. A lot of Mrs. Clinton's money appears to be from people who donated the full $4600 they're allowed to give, $2300 for the Primary and $2300 for the general. So, some of that money in Mrs. Clinton's coffers doesn't count for the primary (they will tell us exactly how much by April 15th), and perhaps more importantly, those folks can not give any $ again to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama can go back to many of these donors in future quarters and still draw in more $.
The other question remaining is going to be the "Cash on hand", how much each campaign spent out of the money they brought in. Its entirely possible that Mrs. Clinton outspent Mr. Obama by having a much more expensive operation running throughout the first quarter, but we'll see.
This sets Mr. Obama up quite well to dominate the 2nd quarter fundraising numbers.
Oh, and the biggest loser of the 1st quarter fundraising race was John McCain. By a long shot.
I also read that Obama took no money from lobbyists or PACs, unlike Clinton.