The Q1 Money List

Lots of news about the big bucks the presidential campaigns raked in for the first quarter of 2007:

Democrats

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, $26 Million

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, $14 Million

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, $6 Million

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, $4 Million

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, $1-2 million

Republicans

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, $21 million

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, $15 million

Arizona Sen. John McCain, $12.5 million

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, $1.3 million

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, $500,000

Note: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has yet to release his fundraising totals.

Obama is expected to be somewhere within striking distance of Hillary. While these numbers may be interesting, the real interest will be in the cash on hand figures which won't come out until April 15th. It's nice to raise big bucks, but how much have they spent and how much is left?

My quick take: Romney is on pace to raise the most money for the least impact on the polls. He's still firmly in third place - fourth if you add Fred Thompson to the mix. I just don't see his campaign going anywhere with the voters. Rudy got a late start, and I think he'll look a lot stronger in Q2. McCain is toast. He doesn't like raising money and doesn't look like he's really enjoying himself at all on the campaign trail. See ya, John. Everybody else in the GOP - go home.

Hillary has big buck donors and it's no surprise that she tops the list. However, in Q2 I look for Obama to beat her. People are going to get real tired of hearing Hillary on the stump. Edwards will retreat back into relative anonymity once the sympathy dies down. The rest of the Dems - go home.