Record Cash Shakes Up Presidential Field

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a breakfast with local residents, Thursday, March 29, 2007, during a campaign stop in Bluffton, S.C. Romney reported Monday April 2, 2007 he had raised $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year, shaking up the GOP field. Sen. John McCain of Arizona lagged with $12.5 million raised. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton) (Stephen Morton - AP)

DERRY, N.H. -- Awash in record-breaking cash, the 2008 presidential race entered an important new phase Tuesday as rattled front-runners and hard-charging challengers reassessed their strategies and standing in a reshuffled field.

Aides to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama were still tallying receipts but said he would report at least $20 million raised since Jan. 1. Fear swept the once-confident campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: Obama could top her $26 million haul and strip her of the front-runner's mantle.

A top Clinton fundraiser took a jab at the rival. Obama "doesn't have the sustainability and doesn't have the ability to raise what the Clintons are able to raise," said John Catsimatidis. "Regardless of what he reports, at the end of the day, the Clintons get the nomination."

But only one Clinton can get nominated _ and only if she stays atop a crowded Democratic field. Her husband, former President Clinton, threw his considerable might behind her desperate drive for cash before Saturday's reporting deadline.

On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laid claim to GOP bragging rights by declaring that his $23 million fundraising total so far this year is "the best indicator of future success," and vowed to maintain his staggering pace. A larger-than-usual press corps trailed him in New Hampshire, including a crew from the CBS news show "60 Minutes."

Sen. John McCain, the former front-runner, who traveled to Iraq and Pakistan this week, ordered an overhaul of his fundraising shop. More changes could be in store for the Arizona senator's campaign, party leaders said. His aides said he was putting off his formal campaign announcment that had been planned for next week. Instead, they said he would give a speech about Iraq.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who surged ahead of McCain in GOP polling several weeks ago, said he's satisfied with a $15 million fundraising total, including $10 million raised in March alone.

Still, he bowed to Romney.

"Congratulations, Mitt," Giuliani said, "I mean that." Asked whether he could keep up his pace, the former mayor glanced to the sky and said he can only pray. "I hope so."

Less than a year before the first votes are cast in the nomination fights, the fundraising totals created two fields in transition _ with no clear front-runners.

In the GOP race, Romney leads in money, Giuliani in polls and McCain, arguably, in organizational strength.

On the Democratic side, Clinton leads in polls and has the best traditional infrastructure, but both Obama and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina could argue success in Internet-based grassroots efforts.