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WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton raised a record US$26m ($36m) in the first quarter of this year, her campaign announced - a display of financial muscle calculated to scare rivals and create a sense of inevitability about her bid for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination.
The first quarter figures were legally required to be made public only in mid-April.
But by jumping the gun, the New York senator forced most other Democratic candidates to do likewise, confirming in the process that the campaign now under way will be by far the most expensive in US history, costing at least US$1bn ($1.3bn) in all.
John Edwards, for instance, reported total fundraising of US$14m, which also beat the previous record for the quarter, set by the then vice-President Al Gore at the equivalent stage of 1999.
It was not clear how much of that total flowed into his war-chest in the last 10 days, since his wife Elizabeth revealed she was suffering from incurable breast cancer - an event which has generated immense public sympathy for the couple.
The conspicuous absentee yesterday however was Barack Obama, the young Illinois Senator who runs second to Ms Clinton in most polls, and who would, if elected, be the first black President to occupy the White House.
The Obama camp claims to have attracted an enormous sum in small individual donations, particularly via the internet, and seems to be delaying an announcement to garner the maximum publicity possible.
After transferring US$10m left over from her Senate re-election campaign last year, Ms Clinton now has a total of US$36m on hand.
The first quarter figures were "staggering," her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said, and "dramatically exceeded our goals and expectations."
Her rivals however affected indifference, with an Edwards spokesman noting that success in the fundraising 'silent primary' was anything but a reliable indicator of who would triumph in the real primaries.
Next year the bulk of these will be bunched into a few hectic weeks between mid-January and early March, by which time both parties' nominees will probably be known.
Ms Clinton's campaign has however been hugely helped by the increasing involvement of her husband.
Bill Clinton's old network is the basis of his wife's impressive financial machine, and during the last fortnight the former President has notably stepped up his appearances on her behalf.
On the Republican side, the picture is more clouded.
None of the leading candidates have announced figures, and one of them - Senator John McCain of Arizona - has publicly played down speculation about his financial performance, saying that only lately has he gone into full fundraising mode.
But Mr McCain's efforts to lower expectations also reflect the problems faced by all three 'top tier' Republican candidates.
He himself has failed to generate the excitement of his insurgent White House bid of 2000, while the current front runner for the nomination, the former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani, has been hit by a string of allegations about his personal life and business dealings.
Neither man is much trusted by conservatives, and much the same goes for the third prominent candidate, the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
The latest Gallup poll gave him a derisory 3 per cent, far behind Mr Giuliani's 31 per cent and Mr McCain's 25 per cent.
Instead, the current buzz surrounds a man who is not running and who has made no effort to organise support.
Despite this lack of activity, the Gallup poll of likely Republican voters put actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson at 12 per cent, a remarkable level of support given that Mr Thompson gave up his Senate four years ago.
Since then he has been best known for his portrayal of a gruff New York prosecutor in the TV series 'Law and Order.'
But for the Republican faithful, especially conservatives satisfied with none of current entrants in a crowded field, he is a re-incarnation of their greatest hero Ronald Reagan, the last actor-politician to occupy the Oval Office.
Mr Thompson recently told Fox News that he had no plans to run, but was nevertheless "keeping the door open".
- INDEPENDENT
