Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama speaks at a high school in Florence, South Carolina. Photograph: Willis Glassgow/AP
Figures released last night confirmed Barack Obama's financial muscle as he vies with the more experienced Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the US presidential race.
In this first quarter, the senator from Illinois raised more money than Mrs Clinton for the primary campaign, amassing $24.8m (£12.4m) in donations, compared to Mrs Clinton who collected $19m. For figures from all candidates, the Washington Post has this very useful guide.
However, Mrs Clinton's total war chest, after taking in expenses, comes to $31m, far larger than any of her rivals among either Democrats or Republicans. The corresponding figure for Mr Obama is $18.2m.
Fundraising at this early stage in the presidential campaign is even more critical than in the past, as so many states - 10 at last count - are cramming their primaries into February 5, with 20 other states considering jumping on to the bandwagon.
Some commentators question whether such a front-loaded programme makes for a sound electoral process, but "super-duper Tuesday" as it's called makes it imperative for candidates to fill their coffers as much as possible and as early as possible.
So far, the Democrats have raised more money than their Republican rivals. Combined, the top three Democrats raised $66m - significantly more than the three top Republicans' $48m, although by the time of the election, the money gap between the two parties will probably narrow.
While the race to raise money gets plenty of coverage, Paul Krugman's latest column in the New York Times, picked up by the Daily Kos, will hearten Democrats. He argues that the Democratic party base has been doing its candidates a favour by pushing them into positions supported by the rest of the country on issues such as Iraq and health care.
"There's no conflict between catering to the Democratic base and staking out positions that can win in the 2008 election, because the things the base wants -- an end to the Iraq war, a guarantee of health insurance for all -- are also things that the country as a whole supports."
Writing in the Nation, John Nichols sees Mr Obama ahead with the Democratic party base in South Carolina, which holds its primary on January 29, just after New Hampshire and ahead of the big Tuesday vote. Its timing timing therefore could be crucial and so far Mr Obama leads Mrs Clinton by 34% to 20%.
"The numbers are great for Obama, who has only begun to establish his campaign in the state. They are very bad news for Clinton, who has put enormous effort into South Carolina, going so far as to hire key political players in the African-American community in an attempt to thwart the Obama surge."
