Obama Raises $19
Million in Quarter

Democrat Barack Obama raised more than $19 million for the presidential primary elections from July through September, bringing his total for the year to nearly $80 million, his campaign said Monday.

The summer total included donations from 93,000 new contributors, aides said. Obama also collected money for the general election, making his overall contributions more than $20 million for the quarter.

The third-quarter contributions were less than Obama raised in each of the first two quarters. But the total still kept him at the top of the fund-raising pack -- at least temporarily. His closest fund-raising rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, had not released her totals Monday.

The presidential campaigns aggressively competed for dollars up to the last minute of the third quarter, which ended Sunday.

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson announced Sunday that he had raised $5.2 million in the quarter, bringing his total for the year to $18.4 million.

The third quarter is traditionally a more difficult fund-raising period, and both Obama and Richardson raised less in the past three months than they had in each of the first and second quarters.

Other candidates were expected to reveal their totals Monday. Detailed campaign finance reports, however, are not due until October 15, when the campaigns file contribution and spending data with the Federal Election Commission.

Overall the Obama campaign has received contributions from 352,000 donors so far this year. Contributors are limited to a maximum of $2,300 each.

Neither Obama nor Richardson revealed how much money they had in the bank, an important figure as the presidential contest heads into one of the heaviest spending periods of the season. Obama has been spending aggressively, especially in Iowa, where the first presidential caucus is scheduled for January.

Obama, like other major candidates, has also received contributions for the general election, but the bulk of his donations have been for the primaries. Since the beginning of the year he has received nearly $75 million for the primaries and about $4 million for the general election.

Democrats were also watching former senator John Edwards's fund-raising to determine whether he remained on track to meet his goal of raising $40 million by the end of the year. On Monday the campaign announced that it had met its goal of raising $1 million online in the past 10 days, part of a last-minute push to boost his total for the quarter.

Last week Edwards announced he would accept public financing of his campaign during the primaries, a move that would give him an infusion of several million dollars but would also limit his spending to about $50 million during the entire primary season.

Republicans were awaiting fund-raising numbers from their top four contenders, eager to determine whether Sen. John McCain had put the breaks on his financial free fall and whether the newest entrant in the contest, former senator Fred Thompson, had parlayed into real dollars the popular support he enjoyed before becoming a candidate. (AP)