Fundraising upsets for 2008 frontrunners

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Fundraising upsets have thrown open the campaign for the 2008 U.S. presidential nominations, according to veteran campaign watchers.

First-quarter fundraising totals indicate Democratic Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton of New York and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona are no longer the odds-on favorites to win their party's nominations, The Los Angeles Times reports.

"A year ago, there was a clear Clinton scenario, a clear McCain scenario" for winning their respective party nominations," says Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of a nonpartisan campaign newsletter.

Now Rothenberg says it is clear that other candidates like Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have caught the attention of both the public and donors, resulting in races that are very competitive.

"I don't see a clear front-runner for the Republicans," says Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Abramowitz says he thinks each of the GOP candidates has serious liabilities in terms of appealing to primary voters.