The widening campaign money gap

Most lack the resources to make significant investments in California, New Jersey and other states holding Feb. 5 elections. So they are banking on strong showings in Iowa and the other early contests to slingshot them into the following primaries. That has long been the strategy of former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who is running a distant third in the Democratic money chase.

McCain now is trying the same thing. Once the GOP front-runner, the Arizona senator has shrunk his sights to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina since it became clear he would fall far short of his $100-million primary fundraising goal; he collected $24 million in the first half of the year and recently made a second round of staff cutbacks.

There is precedence for the early-breakthrough strategy. Four years ago, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts staked his entire campaign on winning Iowa; he did, and swept to the Democratic nomination. "You have to build the campaign from the ground up and hope you get lucky," said Mary Beth Cahill, who managed Kerry's effort.

A poor showing in the early states, however, may leave an impoverished candidate no chance to recover.

Giuliani's camp, touting his fundraising performance, recently announced he was expanding his field operations to a dozen primary states, including California and Florida.

On the Democratic side, Obama will be able to "fully fund everything we want to do in the first states and make serious efforts in the Feb. 5 states," campaign manager David Plouffe said. Clinton is positioned to do that same.

As of June 30, only Obama and Clinton were on track to raise $100 million or more this year, the early benchmark for leading contenders. Obama collected about $58 million in the first half of the year, and Clinton raised $53 million. Together, they have pulled in far more than the rest of the large Democratic field combined.

On the Republican side, Giuliani raised $17 million in the second quarter, giving him about $33 million for the year. That could leave him well short of the $100-million-to-$125-million goal detailed in a fundraising briefing book leaked to the New York Daily News.

Romney has used his personal wealth to maintain the lead in the GOP money race. He raised $14 million in the second quarter, down from $21 million in the first three months of the year. But he also loaned himself $6.5 million.

Even if Democrats are unable to maintain their current financial edge, many within the party believe the resources spent early on will yield a partisan advantage come November 2008.

"The more you can be visible and active and get people connected in the primary season," said Ann Lewis, a senior advisor to Clinton and a longtime Democratic Party activist, "the better off you're going to be in the general election."

mark.barabak@latimes.com

dan.morain@latimes.com