Money In Play

There have been a lot of headlines about the huge amounts of cash being raised by the two top Democrats in the race, Hillary! and Obama. But there is also an astonishing amount of money being raised by the Republicans - and Mitt Romney, surprisingly, I think, is by far and away leading the pack.

BOSTON - Mitt Romney blew away the top-ranked Republican presidential candidates in fundraising during the first three months of the year, reporting he had raised an astonishing $23 million. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain (news, bio, voting record), favored in the polls, trailed far behind.

The former Massachusetts governor's first-quarter tally put him on a financial par with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the leading Democratic candidate. On Sunday, she reported raising $26 million.

"People are having a positive reaction to him and are willing to open up a vein for him," David King, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said of Romney.

Former New York Mayor Giuliani, who has amassed a sizable lead in national popularity polls of GOP candidates, reported raising $15 million this quarter — more than McCain, but still considerably behind Romney.

McCain's $12.5 million appeared to be another sign the Arizona senator's campaign is flagging.

Whoever wins, it will be a record breaking amount of money spent. And it is still a long ways off. If Fred Thompson does enter the race, they numbers will get very squirrelly very quickly, too.