He beat Hillary Clinton in the second quarter by more than the total raised by any other Democratic candidate for the primary.
However, Obama probably knows betater than most that money isn't everything when it comes to winning an election.
When Barack ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, two other candidates -- Blair Hull and Dan Hynes -- raised more cash for the primary. Hull, in fact, raised six times more money than did Obama.
And Obama had no clinch on establishment backing either. Hynes was a state controller who hailed from an established Democratic family from Chicago. Obama faced quite a challenge even though he eventually raised more than anyone thought he could.
Hull suffered in the last three weeks of the campaign when news broke out about violent incidents in a former marriage. That potentially could have opened the door more for Hynes who supposedly had the backing of the Chicago machine and who had raised slightly more money than Obama.
In the end, Obama made easy work of the opposition: Obama, 52.7%, Dan Hynes, 23.7%, Blair Hull, 10.8%, with the rest going to other candidates.
Barack garnered broad support throughout the state including the South, where he was thought weak, and in Chicago, where he easily defeated Hynes.
Although outraised, Obama managed to save more money for late tv ads than Hynes. Barack had been behind in the polls up until a few weeks before the election.
Barack's support base was firmer than his opponents and his team outworked the competition at the grassroots level.
It may be that his experience in that race is one reason that Barack has been rather low-key after such a stunning fundraising effort. All along he had thought that he could win while he was behind in cash. Now as the frontrunner in the money primary, he knows he still has to win the often unseen war at ground level.
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