Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama raised an eye-popping $25 million in the first quarter of 2007, tying him with another Democratic candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who managed to raise $26 million during the same period of time.

Of these $25 million Obama pledged $23.5 million for the primary campaign and $1.5 million for the general election should he become the Democratic nominee.

Online support was especially strong for Obama. The senator managed to raise $6.9 million online, compared to $4.2 million raised by Clinton.

"We'll never beat him on the Net," said one Clinton adviser last week on condition of anonymity, as quoted by Newsday. "We can compete, but he'll win all the anti-war people online."

In a measure of his appeal to national donors Obama attracted more than 108,000 contributions for the quarter. That was twice the 50,000 Clinton reported.

In an e-mail to supporters yesterday, Obama seemed to toss the gauntlet at Clinton, saying his success sent "an unmistakable message to the political establishment in Washington about the power and seriousness of our challenge."

"We are thrilled with our historic fundraising success and congratulate Senator Obama and the entire Democratic field," Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle responded in a statement Wednesday.

However, Obama still trails the former first lady in many state polls, despite closing the gap in recent weeks.

.