U.S. Democrats far ahead in fundraising

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Democrats are outperforming rival Republicans significantly in fundraising in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In the first six months of this year, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee reported raising $31.2 million, while the Republicans' counterpart reported income of $15.7 million.

The newspaper noted how U.S. President George Bush hosted a fundraising dinner that raised about $30 million in 2002 when his approval rating was running at 76 percent. In May, with the war in Iraq dragging his approval rating to less than 30 percent, a similar dinner raised a little more than $15 million, the Times said.

However, Kenneth Duberstein, a White House chief of staff during U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration, told the newspaper there is a rally due, based largely on Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

"Have no fear -- there's nothing that unites the Republicans as much as the word 'Clinton.'" Duberstein told the Times. "This may be a summer of discontent but this is only a temporary phenomenon."