The first "real news" of the US Primary's "Phoney War" Phase

Some cold, hard facts about the campaigns of those contending to be the 44th president of the United States were revealed this weekend as campaigns posted their first quarterly reports with the FEC.

The FEC reports revealed much more than wonky numbers: They tell a great deal about the campaigns. Some tidbits:

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Self-described fiscal conservative Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spent 64 percent of what he took in, and assumed a stunning amount (to the tune of $1.8 million) of debt.

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Leading up to an election year anticipated to be one of difficulty for the GOP, the Democratic presidential candidates raised $27 million more than their Republican counterparts.

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Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised $24.8 million in primary cash for his campaign — almost 30 percent more than did frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y

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Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson may have come up with the most clever way to keep his burn rate below 20 percent — his campaign manager, Dave Contarino, is a volunteer who does not draw a salary from the campaign. That's a somewhat different approach than the roughly $240,000 annual salary Rudy Giuliani pays to his campaign manager, Mike DuHaime.

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Obama — 104,000 donors
McCain - 50,000 donors
Clinton - 60,000 donors
Edwards - 40,000 donors
Giuliani - 28,000 donors

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Obama scored the most Internet money by raising $6.9 million online in the first quarter.

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Looks like Obama has a commanding lead.