Time magazine recently highighted several potential outcomes of the Democratic nominee race between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One point that was raised was that Senator Clinton's campaign is starting to run out of money - she recently held a $10 million dollar deficit - which could prove problematic if she is unable to maintain a high level of fundraising activities. Earlier reports noted that Senator John McCain's presidency campaign was also plagued by financial woes. After securing a loan, he was able to refocus his campaign and fund-raising efforts.

How much money does a candidate need to raise to run a presidential campaign? Here is a quick comparison of the three remaining presidential candidates (Sens. Clinton, McCain and Obama) and their overall ability to raise campaign contributions. None of the candidates have a donor that has contributed amounts totalling more than 0.3% of the total funds raised. It is interesting to see that all of the candidates have received signifcant funds from financial/investment firms: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase. Citigroup has contributed close to $1 million (total = $944,800) to Clinton, McCain and Obama.

What is even more mind-boggling though is the total that has been raised (to date): nearly a half-a-billion dollars ($500,523,960)! And there is still no Democratic nominee. Considering the state of the economy in the US and the world, it is a little disheartening to see this much money be put into a presidential campaign (note: this total excludes other funds raised by candidates who have now withdrawn from the race).

How much money does a candidate need to win a presidential campaign? Time will tell for the 2008 United States presidential election. Final totals will be updated in a few costly months.

Total amounts raised to date (as of April 2008)

Clinton 	189,087,053

McCain 		 76,691,826

Obama 		234,745,081 

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TOTAL 		500,523,960

Top contributors to campaign (percentage of total) (as of April 2008)

Clinton

• DLA Piper $505,200 (0.27%) 

• Goldman Sachs $445,350 (0.24%) 

• Citigroup Inc $406,752 (0.22%) 

• Morgan Stanley $402,845 (0.21%) 

• EMILYs List $323,567 (0.17%)

McCain

• Merrill Lynch $226,550 (0.30%) 

• Blank Rome LLP $222,050 (0.29%) 

• Citigroup Inc $206,102 (0.27%) 

• Greenberg Traurig LLP $173,837 (0.23%) 

• AT&T Inc $149,305 (0.19%)

Obama

• Goldman Sachs $544,481 (0.23%) 

• University of California $371,266 (0.16%) 

• Ubs Ag $363,527 (0.15%) 

• JPMorgan Chase & Co $353,808 (0.15%) 

• Citigroup Inc $331,946 (0.14%)

references: Center for Responsive Politics - http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/

May 7 - Senator Clinton has loaned her campaign $6 million dollars.

May 13 - Senator Clinton has loaner her campaign a total of $11.4 million dollars.