Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, share a laugh. GOP Funk: Top Dems Have Twice As Many Donors

From Congress to the presidential campaign, Republican fundraising is lagging while Democratic donations are surging.

Yet beneath the record-breaking million-dollar totals lies another statistic that could be more ominous in 2008 for Republicans: a yawning gap between the presidential primary fields' donor bases. According to campaign figures, the Democrats' top three candidates received donations from about 204,000 individuals. The first-tier Republican trio drew checks from 110,000, roughly half as many. That donor disparity helped give the Democrats a big first-quarter financial advantage.


The Democrats' top three candidates reported having $61 million in cash at the end of the quarter, compared with $29 million posted by the top Republicans. Of the nine presidential hopefuls who raised more than $1 million, six are Democrats, compared with three Republicans. Two of the Democrats' second-tier candidates -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd -- matched or beat the quarter-end cash balance of the Republican front-runner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The risks to Republicans extend well beyond the first three months of this year. The gap also could be a disadvantage to that party's candidates in such grass-roots activities as voter registration drives and door-to-door get-out-the-vote efforts. Campaign experts say people who give as little as $5 to a campaign are more likely to put out a yard sign, attend a rally or volunteer for a local campaign office or event.

Politico.com is co-host of the May 3rd Republican presidential debate, and candidates will be answering our readers’ favorite questions. Click here to submit yours.

In the general election, the donor base imbalance could become a decisive factor, since both party nominees are expected to opt out of the taxpayer-subsidized campaign finance system and raise as much money as possible for their candidacies. Assuming the Democratic and Republican primary donor bases unite around the two party nominees, whichever side has the biggest pooled list of potential donors also captures a distinct fundraising advantage, said Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi.

Republican Scott Reed, who ran Bob Dole's 1996 presidential race, said the trends are "a warning signal on where the race stands now, and the Democrats are winning the enthusiasm category hands down. Part of the lack of enthusiasm is because of the cloud over President Bush and the administration. The constant drip of domestic and governing mistakes coupled with Iraq is just depressing the party."

The dynamics of the 2008 election cycle represent something of a reversal from 2000. Back then, it was the Democrats who were exhausted from impeachment and other scandals that plagued the Clinton administration, and many worried that vice president and nominee Al Gore didn't present a compelling new direction for the party. Meanwhile, Republicans rallied behind their nominee, George W. Bush, who banked unprecedented campaign cash and reported a then record-breaking 171,000 donors at the end of the fourth quarter of 1999.

Today, Republican ambiguity about the party's front-runners is evident when the mere mention of potential candidates such as former U.S. senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee can reshuffle the lineup in public opinion polls. An April 10 poll of Republicans by Rasmussen Reports, an independent polling organization, found former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani at the top of the polls, followed by McCain. Thompson, who hasn't announced his candidacy, was in third place, followed by Republican fundraising winner Mitt Romney, who had just edged out former speaker Newt Gingrich, another party leader who isn't in the race.

"The guys in 2000 who knew where to put their money -- on Bush -- because they were betting on a sure thing don't have a place to go yet," said Grover Norquist, a leader of the party's anti-tax wing. "There are many Republicans holding back trying to decide who is going to win. There are also some Republicans who are spending a little bit of time focusing on the guy who is president while the Democrats are entirely focused on who could be president."

While the Republicans are hedging their bets, the Democrats are pushing to improve their odds.

A Campaign Finance Institute analysis shows that big donors still rule. Seventy-nine percent of the donations to the major candidates for both parties amounted to $1,000 or more. That's a typical pattern for the start of a primary season, as candidates appeal to their core supporters. But in today's competitive environment, small donors are getting new attention.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who reported 104,000 donors to his campaign, continued on Monday a series of events aimed at building his small-donor base. With an entry fee of just $25, thousands of people were expected to turn out in Milwaukee to see the Illinois senator. Similar low-dollar events have been held in Louisville, Ky.; Tampa, Fla.; and other cities, allowing the campaign to add thousands of new names to its e-mail list for a relatively small cost to the campaign.

The Obama camp also set up Internet tools modeled after the Bush campaign's Pioneer and Ranger bundling operations that allow small donors to gather modest donations from their friends and family, which they then deliver to the campaign under their name. Thus far, 7,000 people have opened up small-donor bundling pages for Obama. Those donors are particularly valuable, since they aren't likely to hit the maximum contribution limit of $2,300. That means the Obama camp can go back to them month after month for small checks that add up to real money when collected from many people.

In Obama's case, for instance, he reported raising more than $6 million from Internet donations. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) raised around $4 million, and John Edwards collected about $3 million online -- and most of those givers were first-time donors. Combined, the Democrats' online donations alone match what McCain's team raised in the entire first quarter.

To be sure, Republicans are also working the Internet and sending direct mail letters to generate their own small-donor bases. Romney has invested more than $1 million to build up his Web operation, and McCain, whose 2000 presidential bid saw a spontaneous influx of Internet cash after his surprise New Hampshire win over Bush, reported having 50,000 donors -- a number competitive with Clinton and Edwards.

The challenge, Trippi said, is that the Republicans now must try to catch the Democrats. "Once you've grown the base as big as the candidates have, we're not going to stop," he said. "This will only become a much bigger problem for the Republicans."

As Howard Dean's campaign manager, Trippi helped break all donor records by drawing about 200,000 contributors to Dean's unsuccessful bid. It's a record Trippi believes could be easily broken this year. "(Bill) Richardson is well ahead of our pace. That's how exponential this thing is growing," he added.

Republican strategist Reed believes his party can overcome its slow start. But that day won't come until "you have all of the Republican candidates talking about a post-Bush era, not in a confrontational way, but just in the context of moving on. You do that with new ideas."