Candidates Release Third-Quarter Fundraising Totals

Oct. 2, 2007 — -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton outpaced Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, in fundraising July through September, adding $27 million to her campaign war chest, Clinton aides announced today.

Clinton's strong summer cash haul marks the first time she has surpassed Obama in funds raised for the primary at the close of a fundraising quarter.

Her fundraising victory -- on top of her big lead in national polls and slight polling edge in early states Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- will continue to feed the notion that the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 is hers to lose.

Obama, who was the top '08 presidential fundraiser for the first six months of the year can claim another impressive fundraising quarter raising $19 million for the Democratic primaries and caucuses plus an additional $1 million for the general election. In all, he's raised nearly $75 million for the nomination fight.

Obama maintained his impressive lead in total number of contributors, attracting 93,000 new donors in the third quarter, giving the senator a total of 352,000 contributors. However, Clinton attracted 100,000 new donors in the third quarter.

Neither campaign released how much money it actually had on hand, an important figure because operating a campaign for a three-month period can costs millions.

Though most of the Republican presidential hopefuls have not officially released their cash tallies for the last three months, it appears that the Democrats have once again outraised them.

Aides to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney say that he brought in $10 million and that he'll add an additional $6 million of his personal wealth to his campaign, according to reports.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has said his numbers would be about as good as his rivals.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was first among the Republican hopefuls to announce his third-quarter numbers. He'll report raising $8 million to go along with the $3.5 million his "testing the waters" committee raised in June, numbers that would seem to --for the time being -- end criticism that his campaign has come out of the gate without any juice.

Notably, with 70,000 donors, Thompson has attracted more contributors than his main rivals Romney, Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain did in the first quarter of this year.

Former Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Obama and Clinton's rival, brought in $7 million this quarter, less than the $14 million he banked in the first quarter and $9 million in the second quarter.

Earlier in the year, Obama became the first presidential hopeful to float around the idea of using public money for the general election.

If Edwards in fact decides to accept public funds, he'll have to adhere to federal and state spending limits. During a conference call with reporters Monday, campaign aides estimated that Edwards would be eligible for $10 million in public money to add to the $12 million he has on hand to spend for the nominating contests.

The campaign of Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico announced Sunday that it had raised a little more than $5 million July to September, bringing Richardson's total to more than $18 million.

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut raised $1.5 million this summer, less than half of what he raised in the spring. The campaign of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., expects to report adding $2 million to its war chest during the last three months.

ABC News' David Muir and Raelyn Johnson contributed to this report.