Candidates Announce Money Totals

As November of 2008 approaches the run for the White House begins to focus on the real issue at hand, money. Not just who has it but more importantly how will it be used to convince the American people and wasted on "real" travel expenses.

On Monday Republican Mitt Romney announced that he as raised $23 million for his bid to the White House in his first three months. This comes as a surprising number to some since it rivals that of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton just announced a day before.

Some point to Romney connection to the conservative Christian right and his member-ship in the Church of Mormon playing a large fact in such funds being collected.

Current GOP front-runner former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani announced his fund raising to currently be around $15 million. Giuliani's campaign further notes that around $10 million of his total was raised in the month of March alone at various fund raising events across the country. The third place GOP runner Sen. John McCain as of Monday morning has not reported his campaign fundraising totals. Also, Sen. Obama of Illinois has also failed to report in fundraising totals, touching of speculation of an announcement.

Romney spokesmen Kevin Madden said," Facing opponents in an extremely competitive fundraising field who enjoy universal name identification and the clear advantage of existing networks of contributors...is vital in winning the race."

This weekend marked the end of the first unofficial fundraising deadline and proves to be a crucial test for all the candidates. It allows them to see who has the most grass root support and has the best attempt of succeeding in the primaries. Candidates like Sen. Dodd, Sen. Joe Biden, and Gov. Richardson; all below the $10 million mark have a long road to make it in 2008.