Obama Outraises Clinton by $10 Million

July 2, 2007 — -- Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has 31 million reasons to be smiling.

In the last three months, his campaign raised a whopping $31 million in donations for the Democratic primaries, trouncing party rival Sen. Hillary Clinton by $10 million.

Obama's number far outpaces the $21 million raised by Clinton, who comes complete with a fundraising powerhouse by way of her husband.

It's a campaign haul that's left political tongues wagging.

"If I were Hillary Clinton, I would be a little bit worried," said professor Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "I'd be looking over my shoulder at Barack Obama."

It's more than just the total amount, it's where the money is coming from. In the first six months of this year, Obama raised more money from more than a quarter of a million donors.

"This is a real warning sign to Hillary Clinton and her campaign," Sabato said. "What they don't have is the energy and enthusiasm in the grass roots that Barack Obama currently controls."

The kind of enthusiasm he's talking about is reminiscent of the Obamagirl video that made rounds on the Internet, receiving more than 2 million hits on YouTube and creating a significant amount of buzz.

Clinton has big guns in her campaign arsenal: mega-gun Bill Clinton, to name one, who's on a four-day campaign swing with his wife in Iowa.

Democrat John Edwards trailed way behind, with just $9 million despite a last-minute push to raise money off his wife's fight with conservative writer Ann Coulter.

As for the GOP, former Sen. Fred Thompson isn't in the race but is reportedly on track to raise $5 million in just one month. The big party question mark, Sen. John McCain, is traveling in Iraq this week. His campaign said it was disappointed by its first quarter number of $13 million. If the campaign can't beat it now, it could spell campaign trouble.

Recent history proves that money can't always buy you love at the polls. Four years ago, though Democratic candidate Howard Dean broke all kinds of early fundraising records, it didn't lead residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.