First Door on the Left

WASHINGTON — With more than $40 million now raised in his run for the White House, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean posted a resounding victory Wednesday in the yearlong dash for cash among Democratic presidential candidates, cementing his status as the contender to beat in the race.

For all the importance of the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 27 New Hampshire primary, some analysts say the results of the “money primary” in the year before a presidential election are an even better guide to who will become the nominee. Since 1980, no major-party candidate who led in donations received by Jan. 1 of an election year has failed to clinch the nomination.

Dean’s fundraising is “really what put him on the map as a candidate and allowed him to achieve the status he achieved,” said Anthony J. Corrado Jr., a campaign finance expert at Colby College. “It has created a situation where most of the other candidates are going to find it hard to compete financially with Dean.”

Dean’s rivals acknowledge his fundraising prowess but say that his money advantage will not translate into victories when the contests begin.

“Look, there’s no doubt he’s had a very successful campaign,” Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri told reporters this week while campaigning in Iowa. “He’s gotten people involved that haven’t been involved before, and he’s raised more money than the other candidates. But again, the test is not all of that…. It comes down to who can win and keep winning to win the nomination.”

As the fourth quarter neared a close Wednesday, the Dean campaign announced it had pulled in more than $15.3 million since Oct. 1. And it urged supporters to give still more as the midnight deadline approached.

“The question now is how high will you go?” Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi wrote in an e-mail to backers. “The pundits talk about us running out of gas. They don’t get it. We’re just getting started.”

Three of every four dollars Dean raised in 2003 came in the last half of the year, reflecting his surging momentum.

His quarterly and yearly totals both were records for a Democratic presidential candidate. Dean had set the previous quarterly mark when he raised $14.8 million from July 1 through Sept. 30. The $40 million he garnered during 2003 surpassed the $26 million President Clinton collected in 1995 for his reelection campaign.

When Clinton was raising money, individual donations to candidates were capped at $1,000; the maximum now is $2,000. Clinton also focused much of his energy on raising the unlimited donations known as “soft money” that went to political parties. Such contributions are now banned.

As his fundraising has surged, Dean’s support among Democratic elected officials also has increased. On Wednesday, Rep. Pete Stark of Hayward became the 29th member of Congress to endorse Dean. Gephardt leads in such endorsements, with 34.