Pure Horserace: Details Behind The Dollars

Democrat Barack Obama's announcement that he took in more than $25 million in donations during the first quarter of 2007 definitely impressed observers — and, with all six top-tier candidates now reporting, it allows us to fully turn attention toward the next fundraising quarter, when candidates can no longer rely on low-hanging fruit.

These quarterly reports for candidates can often be like those reported by corporations: The guidance for the future ends up being more important than the numbers reported for the present. In this respect, Obama appears to be in good shape. He claims to have received money from more than 100,000 donors, with an average donation of $250 — meaning the typical Obama donor can still give another $4,350 for the primary and general elections combined.

That brings us to another number: Obama says $23.5 million of his money is slated for the primary. Hillary Clinton has yet to provide this number, suggesting a significant percentage of her war chest may be off-limits unless she wins the Democratic nomination. Lending credence to this idea is Clinton's shift of $10 million from her Senate campaign account to her presidential account — all of it designated for the primary campaign.

Clinton also reported a donor base only half the size of Obama's. In fact, her base of 50,000 donors is smaller than that reported by John McCain, whose $12.5 million raised put him at the back of the pack. But that means his base of 60,000 donors still has a lot of money left to give.

Another potential Clinton problem is expanding the donor base. The Clinton fundraising network has been in existence since before the 1992 elections, yet it yielded only half the donors generated by a first-term senator who was unknown four years ago. And while everyone knows who Hillary Clinton is, there are still people out there who are only starting to learn about Barack Obama.

One question now dogging Clinton — how much more money can she count on from her donor base? — may also apply to Republican Mitt Romney, who also has not reported how many donors helped him raise more than $20 million. Though at least we know all of Romney's money is available for the primary.

Aiming at the Wrong Crowd? Speaking of Romney, his campaign has started to air a new TV ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that focuses on the candidate's fiscal conservatism. Titled "I Like Vetoes," the commercial also makes a fairly hefty campaign promise: Romney says if he becomes president, he'll require non-defense spending increases to come in at least one percent below inflation — and if Congress sends him a bill that doesn't conform to that rule, he'll veto it.

The ad appears aimed at fiscal conservatives, who have been rankled the past few years by deficits run up by the federal government and President Bush's unwillingness to veto bills that provided billions of dollars for special projects they deride as pork.

But perhaps Romney's efforts would be better directed at another group: gun owners. While his positions on fiscal matters have never been the target of much distrust by Republicans, his record on a host of other issues, including gun control, has invited skepticism. When running for the Senate in 1994, Romney said he supported five-day waiting periods before buying a gun, as well as an assault weapons ban.

But in his run for president, Romney has already tried to placate the Second Amendment crowd by becoming a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. According to the Associated Press, he also claims that he's been a hunter all his life. But, as the report indicates, that claim is true only under the loosest definition — Romney's gone hunting twice in his 60 years. The first excursion took place when he was 15 years old. He didn't shoulder a rifle again until a year ago, when he went quail hunting on a fenced game preserve.

Romney's campaign responded by saying his hunting experience had no effect on his support for gun rights — but it could have a major effect on how believable he is to a key Republican constituency.

McCain 2.0: Saddled by disappointing fundraising and a couple weeks of negative press, McCain might be looking for a chance to start from scratch. For proof, just look at his April schedule.

The Arizona senator has planned a trio of major policy speeches — on Iraq, economic policy and domestic policy — capped off with an announcement tour starting on April 25 that will mark the official kickoff of his campaign. (Apparently the unofficial kickoff came last November when McCain formed his exploratory committee; the semi-official kickoff came with his Feb. 28 announcement on "Late Night With David Letterman.")

The tour will begin in New Hampshire and will finish on April 27 in Arizona with stops in South Carolina and Iowa in between.

What will the rest of April hold for McCain? We're guessing a lot of fundraisers.

Not Leaving Las Vegas Anytime Soon: The Democrats' Nevada caucuses, scheduled for Jan. 19, 2008, are guaranteed to have at least one very interesting character involved: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was reelected to a third term Tuesday with 84 percent of the vote — a number that would make any of the Democratic contenders envious.

But don't expect to see Obama, Clinton or John Edwards adopting any of Goodman's tactics while campaigning on the Strip or anywhere else in the Silver State. Goodman is a mayor only Las Vegas could elect: He made his name defending alleged mobsters in court and, as mayor, has become an official spokesman for Bombay Sapphire gin and told fourth-graders that drinking was his favorite hobby. Though he's a liberal Democrat — he is often seen flanked by two showgirls — Goodman has also backed the idea of amputating the thumbs of those caught defacing freeways with graffiti … on television no less.

So it's unlikely that Democrats will associate too closely with Goodman, but it's also unlikely Goodman would be able to help much in turning out the vote for anyone: The Las Vegas Review-Journal notes that only 15 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday's contest.

Editor's Note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version, coming soon to an in-box near you.

By David Miller