It's official. Obama reported $34 million in cash on hand to Clinton's $33 million --- meaning that Obama has managed to erase Clinton's lead of $10 million that she transferred from her Senate campaign account in the first quarter. Associated Press:

John Edwards, the Democrat closest to the two fundraising leaders, reported having $12 million in the bank for the primary.

Obama, the freshman senator from Illinois, has mounted an aggressive fundraising campaign that has netted him more than 250,000 donors for the year. Overall, he has raised nearly $59 million, with all but about $2 million devoted to the primary election.

Obama reported $922,000 of debt at the end of the quarter and $16 million in spending for the quarter.

The Clinton campaign said it had spent $12.5 million.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2007/07/15/AR2007071500465_ 2.html?hpid=topnews

What does this mean? Some analysis from Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post back on July 2nd:

Obama is now moving into a position to dictate the terms of the rate and depth of spending in the caucuses and primaries. All of the other candidates -- including Clinton -- will have to watch and see what Obama's spending strategy is over the coming months. Obama will have the resources to run Rolls Royce campaigns in each of the first four states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- and build the sort of organizations in places like Florida, Michigan and California to capitalize on any early momentum he gathers.

The only other candidate who will be able to come close to matching Obama in that process is Clinton. Will she be able to do everything Obama does organizationally and on television? Amazingly, maybe not. But she is the only candidate who can even come close.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/07/money_money_everywhere_1.html

All the campaigns are turning in their final campaign finance reports for the second quarter...

Update [2007-7-15 22:5:49 by psericks]: The Associated Press has a full run-down here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAMPAIGN_MONEY_GLANCE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OBAMA
Total receipts to date (includes contributions for primary and general elections, loans and transfers): $36.3 million (about $2 million for general election)
Total contributions to date: $58.6 million
Total spending to date: $22.6 million
Second quarter contributions: $32.9 million
Second quarter spending: $16 million
Second quarter transfers or loans: none
Cash on hand: $36.3 million
Debt: none
Top donor states: California, $4.2 million; Illinois, $3.3 million; New York, $3.1 million; District of Columbia, $1.1 million; Massachusetts, $1 million.
Top employers: Employees of Lehman Brothers, $160,760; Citadel Investment Group, $152,150; Goldman Sachs, $103,550; JP Morgan Chase, $101,950; Citigroup $61,125.
Of note: Obama gets much notice for attracting first-time donors. But the real money is coming from big investment firms. The Illinois senator is a favorite among employees of some of the nation's largest investment banks and hedge funds. Among his fans is Kenneth C. Griffin, president of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group. Griffin gave Obama $4,600 this quarter, the maximum allowed.


EDWARDS
Total receipts to date (includes contributions for primary and general elections, loans and transfers): $23.1 million ($1.3 million for general election)
Total contributions to date: $23.1 million
Total spending to date: $9.7 million
Second quarter contributions: $9.0 million
Second quarter spending: $6.4 million
Second quarter transfers or loans: none
Cash on hand: $13.3 million
Debt: none
Top donor states: California, $1.3 million; New York, $543,185; Florida, $506,072; North Carolina, $504,283; Texas, $486,908.
Top employers: Fortress Investments, $122,650; Lerach Coughlin, $53,300; Watts Law Firm, $48,400; Goldman Sachs, $43,100.
Of note: The Edwards campaign finished the second quarter with about $2.6 million more in the bank than when it started, despite a $5 million drop-off in contributions from the previous quarter.
Edwards, a former trial lawyer, continues to do well raising money from his own. He raised just under $2 million from fellow attorneys in the quarter.

Update [2007-7-15 22:49:39 by psericks]:
Republicans are having a pretty extraordinary cash-on-hand problem. McCain's campaign imploded due to its lack of funds and reported only $2 million on hand.
Romney would be in much the same position with only $3 million on hand were it not for the $9 million in funds he has himself personally loaned to his campaign --- listed on his campaign filing as "debt." In other words, as the Washington Post notes, Romney spent 50% more than he raised during the first two quarters. Democrats could end up with a truly incredible advantage.

GIULIANI
Total receipts to date: (includes contributions for primary and general elections, loans and transfers) $35.6 million ($3.7 million for general election)
Total contributions to date: $33.5 million ($3.7 million for general election)
Total spending to date: $17 million
Second quarter contributions: $17.5 million
Second quarter spending: $11 million
Second quarter transfers or loans: none
Cash on hand: $18.3 million ($3.7 million for general election)
Debt: none
Top donor states: New York, $4 million; California, $1.7 million; Florida $1.7 million.
Top employers: Ernst & Young, where employees gave $143,000; Highland Capital Management, whose employees gave $70,000; New Breed Inc., a Greensboro, N.C., logistics and distribution company whose employees gave $66,000.
Of note: Giuliani raised twice as much money in Florida in the second quarter than he did in the first quarter, making the state his second largest benefactor, behind New York. Giuliani has spent considerable time in Florida, a state that moved up its primary to Jan. 29, increasing its significance politically as well as financially for candidates.

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ROMNEY
Total receipts to date: (includes contributions, loans and transfers: $44.4 million
Total contributions to date: $35 million
Total spending to date: $31.8 million
Second quarter contributions: $14 million
Second quarter spending: $20.5 million
Second quarter transfers or loans: $6.5 million personal loan from candidate
Cash on hand: $12.1 million
Debt: $8.94 million
Top donor states: California, $1.95 million; Utah, $1.14 million; Florida, $963,566.
Top employers: Merrill Lynch, whose employees gave $62,000; E-Trade Financial, whose employees gave $51,000; Energy Solutions, a Utah-based nuclear services company whose employees gave $36,400.
Of note: Romney spent virtually all of his second-quarter revenues, including his contributions and his personal loan. His biggest expense was $4.9 million on media for television advertising, more than twice what he spent in the first three months of the year.

Update [2007-7-16 6:22:3 by psericks]: Great quote from the Associated Press:

Democrats outraised Republicans about $80 million to $50 million from April through June. But Republicans kept pace with Democrats on spending - nearly $50 million spent on both sides.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAMPAIGN_MONEY?SITE=VTBEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Update [2007-7-15 22:33:57 by psericks]: Unrelated substantive update: Obama touches on gun control to fight inner-city violence. It takes some guts to bring this up.

Nearly three dozen Chicago students have been killed this year, according to Chicago Public Schools. Obama said that figure is higher than the number of Illinois serviceman who've died in Iraq in 2007...
He said the government needs to permanently reinstate an assault weapons ban and close regulatory loopholes that protect unscrupulous gun dealers.
He also said government should support and fund more after-school programs to keep kids off the streets. But some of the burden must also be shouldered by residents who need to do more to raise and protect at-risk children, he added.