U.S. Democratic Senator Barack Obama raised 24.8 million U.S. dollars for his presidential primary campaign during the first quarter this year, compared with 19.1 million dollars raised by Senator Hillary Clinton, one of his major rivals for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.

But Clinton, a former first lady, heads into spring with more in her campaign account than all Republican presidential candidates combined, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing campaign-finance reports released Sunday.

From January to March this year, Clinton raised 26 million dollars from 70,300 contributions, Obama raised 25.7 million dollars from 104,000 contributions. Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, led the Republican candidates with 20.7 million dollars, raised from 32,074 contributions.

Behind Clinton and Obama in the Democratic field was former senator John Edwards, who finished the quarter with 13 million dollars raised for the primaries.

Presidential candidates who have announced their candidacies or have formed fundraising committees were required to file a report to the Federal Election Commission on April 15, 2007.

Perhaps the greatest advantage for Obama going forward is that fewer than half of his 104,000 contributors "maxed out" for the primary by hitting the 2,300-dollar contribution limit, meaning he can turn to them again for support. Clinton, by contrast, received nearly three-quarters of her haul from those who wrote 2,300-dollar checks and who cannot contribute to her again unless she is the party's nominee.

But Clinton established a solid overall financial advantage by transferring 10 million dollars from her Senate campaign account and limiting her spending -- in part by carrying 1.6 million dollars in debt, including money she owes to several key advisers. She also raised 7 million dollars that can be spent only if she becomes the nominee.

The numbers reflected a highly energized Democratic Party. For the first time in at least three decades, Democratic donors have given significantly more than Republicans to their presidential hopefuls, the Post reported.

Figures for the Republican Party showed that Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani each came out of the first quarter with nearly 12 million dollars on hand. Senator John McCain, once viewed as the party's front-runner, raised 13 million dollars and had 5.2 million dollars on hand.

Source: Xinhua