Money chart

The figures soon will be flying fast and furious in the presidential campaign. Shortly after the second quarter fundraising period ends today, some candidates will proudly post their take and crow about their momentum. Others will more quietly file their paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and let the numbers speak for themselves when the reports are officially released in mid-July.

For those keeping score at home (and for those eager to start), here's a reminder of how the various candidates fared during the first quarter (Jan. 1 - March 31). This is how much they reported raising from others, rounded off. It doesn't include contributions to themselves.

Democrats                                                          Republicans

Clinton:          $26.1 million                                  Romney:         $21 million

Obama:          $25.7 million                                  Giuliani:         $14.8 million

Edwards:        $14 million                                     McCain:          $13 million

Richardson:    $6.2 million                                    Brownback:    $1.3 million

Dodd:             $4 million                                       Tancredo:      $1.2 million

                                                                                                         

When it comes to raising dollars, no point in wasting time

It's not surprising that Hillary Clinton's schedule for Sunday contains no public events. It's been a busy week: a campaign event in New York Tuesday night (headlined by billionaire Warren Buffett), a candidate forum Thursday night at Howard University in Washington, a similar gathering today in Orlando before Latino leaders, the continuing hunt for money to fuel her presidential bid and lots of action in her day job in the Senate.

Surely, she's earned a rest. But at least part of her Sunday will be devoted to business.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman and longtime Clinton loyalist Terry McAuliffe will be hosting a barbecue at his home in McLean, Va., that she'll be at, along with husband Bill, that signals the start of the third quarter fundraising period (the second quarter wrapped up today).

-- Don Frederick

Sen. Switchback?

Granted, they're in different parties. Still, it's amazing that Republican Sam Brownback apparently didn't learn anything from Democrat John Kerry's travails in the 2004 presidential election. Because if the senator from Kansas had been paying more attention to his colleague from Massachusetts, the flip-flop that occurred on the Senate floor Thursday never would have happened.

In the big showdown on the much-debated and intensely controversial immigration bill, Brownback initially sided with the measure's beleaguered advocates, voting to keep it to alive. But, a few minutes later --- at a time when it was clear the measure was going down the tubes --- he switched sides.

If Brownback's presidential candidacy wasn't on life support, his reversal might have attracted more attention from the mainstream media. CNN, however, did take the time to track him down for comment today.

His explanation defines "tortured." And it does not dissuade us from giving him our first "I was for it before I was against it" award in this campaign cycle.

Various conservative blogs, by the way, DID notice. Like here, here, and here.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Sen. Sam Brownback; Credit: Alan Diaz/AP

Man Packs Dog

It seems that 24 years ago Mitt Romney loaded the family, including the dog, into the station wagon for a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to his parent’s vacation home on the Canadian shore of Lake Huron. The dog got the balcony – Romney strapped the pet-carrier to the roof of the overstuffed car, according to the Boston Globe in its seven-part bio of the former governor.

And boy, does Romney have a lot of explaining to do now.

A number of blogs and media outlets have picked up the detail about Romney's dog-transportation technique, including Time and Talking Points Memo's TPM Cafe. Surfacing now are a slew of condemnations of Romney's pet trick – including one from the folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – and speculation that Romney had violated animal cruelty laws, though the statute of limitations has long since passed.

What’s a candidate to say? That he no longer supports animal cruelty, and expose himself to yet another “flip-flop” accusation?

Try attacking the attacker.

“PETA has been after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics and were very, very upset about that,” Romney told reporters in Pittsburgh. “PETA was after me when I went quail hunting in Georgia And PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.”

Uh-huh. But what about the dog?

Romney reports the dog enjoyed the ride. But according to Globe, the dog sent a different message at the time, forcing Romney to stop along the way and, um, sanitize the outside of the car.

--Scott Martelle

Photo: Mitt Romney; Credit: Carlos Osorio/AP

Hunter mending fences?

For a few hours this afternoon, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) found himself in an unusual minority -- as the only GOP presidential contender to accept an invitation to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in Orlando, Fla.

Most of the Democratic contenders will be there for a forum Saturday, but the GOP contenders took a pass, citing schedule conflicts. Some Republican Latinos dismissed the event as more of a Democratic retreat than a forum of independent Latino political figures.

Hunter's decision to go is curious. He makes a show of his role in erecting a border fence to try to stem illegal immigration from Mexico -- not a popular position among Latino political leaders. But his address to the conference this afternoon got him something: a little attention, which his long-shot campaign needs as the Giuliani-McCain-Romney slugfest hogs most of the Republican spotlight.

--Scott Martelle

Picture: Rep. Duncan Hunter; Credit: Stefan Zalinepa/EPA

Hillary Highs

Hillary Clinton has two reasons to glow today: strong pundit reviews for her performance at Thursday's candidate forum on African-American issues, and new Gallup poll results showing big support for her among Democratic and Democratic-leaning black and Latino voters.

The reviews: "First Place . . . looked like she was in charge,"' wrote Roger Simon on politico.com. Clinton "spoke with greater confidence on race issues'' than did Barack Obama, wrote Mary Mitchell in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Clinton and [John] Edwards were very good, Obama more spotty but better as time went on," blogged Rick Klein of ABC's The Note.

The poll numbers: Clinton "easily has the highest favorable ratings among blacks and Hispanics," said Gallup in releasing its new results Friday. Some 84% of blacks and 63% of Hispanics in the survey had a favorable impression of Clinton.

Obama, by contrast, was viewed favorably by 68% of blacks and 33% of Hispanics (with more than half of all Hispanics saying they did not know enough about him to form an opinion).

There are even more interesting numbers -- and a possible signal to Obama -- in a separate Gallup poll released Wednesday.

With Al Gore in the mix, Obama had the support of 40% of black respondents, compared with 37% for Clinton (the gap lies within the poll's margin of error, which statistically makes them tied),  with 9% for Gore and 3% for Edwards.

But, note well: without Gore in the mix, Clinton was tops among the black respondents with 43%, compared to 42% for Obama and 6% for Edwards. Which means that some black voters ranked Obama no higher than their third choice.

The fight for African American voters -- a key part of the Democratic base -- continues.

--Scott Martelle

The night-owl vote

Remember when it was a big deal that Bill Clinton played the sax on "The Arsenio Hall Show?"

Well, in the years since that 1992 moment, showing up on the late-night circuit has become practically de rigueur for those seeking the White House. And the thrill has long since gone from such drop-bys. Tonight, though, there's a possibility for some must-see TV when Democrat Dennis Kucinich strolls onto the set of the "Late Show with David Letterman."

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer detailed earlier this week, Kucinich often has served as the butt for some of Letterman's bits, so the vibe between the pair could veer into the bizarre.

We were curious about appearances on the late-night shows by those definitely running for president and those whose names have been in the mix, and discovered that the good folks at the National Journal's Political Hotline are keeping track. We gleefully crib their tally.

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" has played host to Republicans Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson and Democrats John Edwards and Bill Richardson. Letterman has had on Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrats Barack Obama and Al Gore* (he takes an asterisk, since people keep talking about a possible run that he keeps denying). On the "Daily Show," Jon Stewart has gone giggly with Gore* and Republicans John McCain and Ron Paul. Steve Colbert has traded quips with Paul, Mike Huckabee (another Republican) and Democrat Mike Gravel on the "Colbert Report."

So on the late-night political lean-o-meter, we have Leno down the middle, Letterman leaning left, Stewart leaning right and Colbert kind of twisting like a pretzel.

--Scott Martelle

Photo: Former Pres. Bill Clinton; Credit: Greg Gibson/Jim AP

The Republican in the Democratic ad

As Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard stepped out his car on Wednesday and made his way to a GOP caucus meeting inside the Illinois statehouse in Springfield, he admitted he was a bit apprehensive.

Dillard created a kerfuffle this week by appearing as a talking head in a new ad, airing in Iowa, that lauds his old pal, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. At the caucus confab, he told The Times' Dan Morain, he expected his party colleagues to "chew" on his posterior.

Come Thursday, however, Dillard was able to sit without pain. Chatting with Morain again, he said that with the legislature trying to resolve a state budget stand-off, other Republicans didn't so much as mention the ad. And for his part, he remained pleased that he was in the spot, even as he reiterated that his favored choice for the White House remains Republican John McCain.

The flap that won't die

First, it was Ann Coulter who found herself under attack when Elizabeth Edwards called her live during the conservative commentator's appearance on MSNBC to suggest Coulter refrain from the hard-edged, personal ridicule she periodically heaps on John Edwards.

Now, Elizabeth Edwards is countering questions about her husband's presidential campaign drawing attention to Coulter's comments as a means of raising money. You can read about here.

Coulter, for her part, appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News tonight and insisted that many of her barbs had been taken out of context. "I am the illegal alien of commentary," she said, adding that she remains committed to doing "the jokes that no one else will do."

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Elizabeth Edwards; Credit: Sara Davis/Getty Images

Will 43 do all 50?

President Bush's stop at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., today marked the 49th state he has visited since moving into the White House in 2001, notes James Gerstenzang, who covers the White House for The Times.

The previous two presidents --- his father, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton --- made a point of stopping in all 50 (though the latter barely made it, traveling to Nebraska during the last month of his second term). One can only assume the current White House occupant (known by close associates as "43" to distinguish himself from his dad, who was the 41st president) will check out the last outpost on his itinerary before he rides off into the Texas sunset.

If and when Bush does make that trip, it could be an entertaining visit to watch. The state?

Vermont --- home of Howard Dean, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and more Birkenstocks than there are cattle at Bush's Texas ranch. ... OK, so that's not too many, but you get the idea. The embrace Bush could expect from the Green Mountain State would not likely be warm  --- 59% of the 2004 vote there went to John Kerry.