Hillary Clinton has just reported $36 million raised for the quarter that ended March 31. This includes $26 million in new money and $10 million transferred from her senate account. Clinton’s donor base is wide and impressive, including 50,000 donors from all 50 states.  She raised $4.2 million on the Internet and has already been working hard on second quarter fundraising. Hillary Clinton has a tremendous advantage over her opponents, a husband who is a former President and likes to raise money. Bill Clinton has always been a very successful Democratic Party fundraiser and his assistance will give the Clinton campaign a financial edge for the rest of the campaign. 

Other Democrats were far behind, including John Edwards who raised $3.2 million on in the Internet with 37,000 donors. Edwards totaled $14 million since the beginning of the year. Edwards raised a very respectable amount, but it solidified his third place position in the race. U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) only raised $2 million and transferred another $2 million from his senate account. U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) also reported about $4 million for the quarter and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson reported about $6 million. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) will announce his fundraising totals very soon. It is expected that he will top $20 million, which will be especially remarkable considering his late entry into the race. His totals will just reinforce to the political world that the race for the Democratic Party nomination is down to three major competitors, Clinton, Obama and Edwards.

Unfortunately in presidential politics today, without massive amounts of campaign cash, a candidate is doomed. Some candidates have already withdrawn, even though they had interesting ideas and some potential. For example, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack already withdrew from the race because he was not able to raise funds and realized he would not be a major factor in the race. Not surprisingly, he has endorsed the leading candidate, Hillary Clinton. 

Despite the impressive fundraising totals, the final analysis of the fundraising is incomplete until two important figures are released, expenses and cash on hand. From all accounts, Hillary Clinton runs a very expensive campaign. For example in her U.S. Senate re-election campaign, running against a political nobody, Clinton spent $37 million of the $51 million she raised. So, right now, we don’t know how much of Clinton’s $36 million is still left. In addition, some of the money raised is dedicated for the general election, which means that the candidate can only spend it if he or she wins the nomination. Edwards reported that only $1 million of his total is dedicated for the general election. Clinton could have a much higher figure.

Hillary Clinton’s numbers are impressive, yet incomplete. It does show that Clinton is the frontrunner and is a prodigious fundraiser. Yet, we still don’t know whether she will run an efficient campaign or match the wastefulness of her Senate race. We also don’t know whether she will be able to craft an effective message and run a good campaign. The jury is still out on whether Clinton will be as good with voters as she is with donors.

Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and Noon till 2 p.m. weekdays on several Louisiana radio stations. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.