Who’s Got the Money?

All told, Clinton and Obama each raised more than $100 million in 2007—a new record for fund-raising by primary candidates.

That's not good news for John Edwards, whose campaign has not even come close to the numbers put up by his rivals for the Democratic nomination. Edwards, who placed second in Iowa and a distant third in New Hampshire, is expected to report around $5 million raised during the final quarter of 2007. Aides say he's raised about $2 million since the beginning of the year. Edwards has qualified for about $9 million in matching funds, though he won't receive that money until March. To get by, his campaign has taken out loans using those funds for collateral—though aides won't say exactly how much he's borrowed. Either way, lack of money has made the situation precarious for Edwards, though the former senator has pledged to stay in the race as long as he can. "I'm in it for the long haul," he told reporters earlier this week.

The Republicans hoping to win the White House have been far less forthcoming about their money than the Democrats. Rudy Giuliani, who spent big in New Hampshire and Iowa in spite of the fact that he barely competed in those states, won't say how much he's raised but announced Friday that he had $7 million in the bank as of Dec. 31 (then again, news also leaked that his senior staffers were working unpaid at the moment, to help free up funds for advertising). Fred Thompson, who had to drop TV ads in Iowa just before the end of the year because of a lack of funds, hasn't disclosed any information.

McCain, whose campaign was on the ropes less than six months ago, has enjoyed a boost in fund-raising in recent weeks—though he and his aides have declined to release specific numbers. Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, told reporters this week that the Arizona senator has set online fund-raising records for his campaign in recent days, but it's the big checks that McCain will need to stay competitive. His campaign has scheduled two finance events in South Carolina on Friday, including a big fund-raiser in Charleston.

Like Edwards, McCain has qualified for matching funds, though he has not taken the money. Doing so would put limits on how much McCain can spend in upcoming states. Instead, to make ends meet, McCain took out a loan using the value of his mailing list as collateral. "We have plenty of money," Davis said. "We'll be fine through the primary."

Mike Huckabee may be the biggest fund-raising success in the field. Banking on his surge to the front of the pack, the former Arkansas governor brought in about $8 million during the final three months of the year—about four times what he'd raised during the previous nine months. Like the other candidates, Huckabee has declined to say how much money he has in the bank, though he has raised more than $2 million during the first two weeks of the year. "We're getting more bang for the buck," Huckabee bragged to reporters earlier this week.