Clinton has raised nearly $26 million

WASHINGTON -- Two Democratic presidential candidates broke previous fund-raising records during the first three months of the year, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton setting a high bar of $26 million in new contributions for the quarter.

Former Sen. John Edwards' campaign said he had raised more than $14 million since the beginning of the year.

The Clinton campaign also announced that she had transferred about $10 million from her last Senate campaign, bringing her total receipts for the quarter to $36 million. Edwards had no such transfers of money.

Clinton aides would not specify how many of her contributions were designated only for the primary election and how many could only be used in the general election, if she were the party's nominee.

Edwards' aides said about $1 million of his contributions could only be used in a general election.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards speaks with the media during a fund-raising visit in Indianapolis, Friday, March 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Neither campaign divulged how much money it had spent in the quarter or how much cash it had in hand.

Still, the total raised by each candidate outdistanced past presidential election records and set a new bar by which to measure fund-raising abilities.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois -- sandwiched in public opinion polls between Clinton and Edwards -- had yet to reveal his totals.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign said he had raised $6 million in primary campaign money and had more than $5 million cash in hand at the end of the three-month period.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said on "Fox News Sunday" he had raised about $3 million in the quarter. Biden also had about $3.6 million in his Senate campaign account that he could transfer to a presidential run.

The rest of the Democratic field and the Republican presidential candidates planned to announce their first-quarter totals over the next few days. The fundraising deadline for the January through March period was Saturday, with financial reports due April 15.

Republican Phil Gramm of Texas and Democrat Al Gore of Tennessee held the records for first-quarter receipts: $8.7 million for Gramm in 1995 and $8.9 million for Gore in 1999. Gramm dropped out before New Hampshire held the 1996 election's first primary.

"We are completely overwhelmed and gratified by the historic support that we've gotten this quarter," Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said. The Clinton total included $4.2 million raised through the Internet, typically a source of small donations.

By not breaking down the amount available for the primaries, the Clinton camp made it impossible to make clear comparisons to past campaigns or to the Edwards total.

"We're above our budget for the year," Edwards deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince said. "We're completely on track to have all the money that we need to be highly competitive in the campaign."

Most of the top tier candidates in the Republican and Democratic fields for 2008 are raising money for the primaries and the general election. The general election money can only be spent if the candidate wins the nomination.

Obama also has raised money aggressively and aides said he had more than 83,000 donors. Clinton's supporters had fretted in recent weeks that Obama could surpass her in fundraising.

Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, was coy.

"I think we'll do well," Obama said. "I think that we should meet people's expectations. More importantly, I think we will have raised enough money to make sure we can compete for the next quarter and beyond. I think we'll do pretty well."

Edwards reported raising more than $3 million on the Internet and easily passed the $7.4 million first-quarter fundraising mark he set in his 2003-04 presidential campaign.

No Republican presidential candidates had released fundraising totals Sunday.

For the first time since the post-Watergate era changes to campaign finance laws, candidates are considering bypassing the public financing system for the presidential primaries and the general election. Several of the top candidates are raising both primary and general election money, artificially inflating their receipts.

Candidates cannot touch their general election money and must return it to donors if they do not win the nomination.

The Federal Election Commission ruled recently that candidates could also collect general election money now and still accept public financing later, provided they returned the money they raised. The opinion came at the request of Obama, who then said he would finance his general election campaign if his Republican rival did as well. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., issued a similar challenge.

The first-quarter totals are one gauge of a campaign's strength. Compared with previous elections, attention to fundraising during the first three months of this year has been especially acute because the leading candidates have decided to forgo public financing for the primaries.