His performance could move him closer to Edwards in the race for money and will probably put him well ahead of the rest of the Democratic presidential pack. Obama and Clinton lead the Democratic and Republican fields in fund-raising.
"We continue to count contributions as they come in throughout the day, but this figure obviously separates us from the second-tier candidates and makes clear this is a four-person race," Richardson spokesman Tom Reynolds said yesterday.
The third quarter of the year before a presidential election year is typically a more difficult fund-raising period for candidates because they have already tapped their most avid supporters and because the summer months make it more difficult to reach donors.
Richardson's campaign did not say how much money he had on hand entering the last three months of the year. That figure could be important to assess how well positioned he is against his rivals.
As the quarter came to a close last week, Edwards announced that he intends to accept public financing for his campaign, a decision that will guarantee him several million dollars in matching funds but will limit him to spending about $50 million in the primaries.
Reynolds said yesterday that Richardson would be very hesitant to do as Edwards has done.
Meanwhile, Obama's campaign announced yesterday that it has surpassed 350,000 donors for the year, a feat at this stage in the campaign.
At midyear, the campaign had reported getting contributions from more than 250,000 individual donors, meaning that about 100,000 new donors contributed during the past three months. Campaign aides said the number could grow and was not final.
