The FEC disclosure forms aren't due until the 15th, but several campaigns are releasing some of their fundraising information. Hillary Clinton has set an all-time record for the first quarter with $26 million raised. When she adds in $10 million from her Senate campaign account, it means she's got a pile of money, but that doesn't even tell the full story. With three events over eight days a week ago, two of which featured the former President as headliner, she raised $10 million. These folks can raise the money.

Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune reports:

Campaign officials with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York announced Sunday that she has raised a staggering $26 million for her presidential run and added $10 million from the coffers of her Senate campaign, for an unprecedented $36 million.

Although the numbers are historic for a candidate of either party, they fell short of the sky-high expectations that had developed for Clinton, a former first lady with a massive fundraising base in New York who employed her husband, President Bill Clinton, to help her beat the bushes for donations across the country.

In addition, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a relative newcomer to the national political scene, is expected to report that he has raised more than $20 million for his presidential bid during the same period, the first quarter of this year, according to three sources in and around his campaign.

Aides to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said Sunday that he has raised more than $14 million for his campaign, doubling his first-quarter total from four years ago as he geared up to run for president in 2004.

Read it all at the link above. Perhaps we can forgive the Chicago media for disrespecting the historic numbers posted by Clinton without specifying any of the "sky-high expectations that had developed for Clinton" by number and source; they have a hometown entry in this race.

It remains to be seen how much of Hillary's swag can be used for primaries and how much must be reserved for the general election (due to the individual limits on donations, her biggest donors may have maxxed out for both campaigns with $4600; the limit for primaries is $2300 per person). Obama's people are reporting that nearly all of his $20 million qualifies for the primary campaign.

Late last year, the people who watch such things were bemoaning the rising cost of campaigns, and predicting that candidates in both parties would need to raise $10 million by June of this year to be considered viable. Here are three on the Democratic side who have beat that benchmark handily in the first quarter - and Richardson's $6 mil, Dodd's $4 mil, and Biden's $3 mil aren't necessarily off target, either, since donations tend to pick up exponentially as the days of voting approach.

Wow, but haven't things changed since McCain's Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act "got the money out of politics" forever?

I remember in 2000, when total spending for the cycle for all offices from President to Alderman first exceeded $1 billion, the whiners like McCain were complaining in full voice, but that same year, Proctor & Gamble spent more than $3 billion advertising their personal hygiene and cleaning products. How can it be "excessive" to spend a third of what's spent on toothpaste and soap on our political future? Not to mention the political numbers were for a two-year cycle, while P&G advertises at that level EVERY year . . .

Not that I should be construed as coming out against brushing your teeth or using soap - those are very good things.