There’s still more than a year to go before the ‘08 elections, but the WSJ reports today that Dems are leading in the money race for both the White House and Congress. Move over Republicans… the American public is showing their disapproval via their wallets:

Democrats have taken the lead by exploiting widespread disapproval of President Bush and the Iraq war to develop a more robust online network of new, small donors, as well as to gain traction with deep-pocketed business contributors.

If their fund-raising advantage continues — so far, Democrats have been pulling in about 58% of overall donations to federal-office seekers — they will have more resources for pricey advertising, organization building and voter outreach next November to buttress their edge in the polls. Moreover, Democrats’ focus on small donors leaves them room to raise more cash over the next year, since many contributors have yet to hit the legal limit of $2,300 per candidate per election, and could potentially keep giving.

At this point in the ‘08 campaign, “Democratic candidates for the White House and Congress, along with the Democratic National Committee and other party committees, have raised a total of $388.8 million, compared with $287.3 million for Republicans, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.”

The figures include reports filed Friday by the House and Senate party committees for fund raising through June 30.

Should that gap persist through the end of next year, it would be the first time in the 30-year history of the FEC that Democrats outraised Republicans overall in federal elections, says FEC spokesman Bob Biersack.

The disparity is particularly sharp in the presidential race, where the eight Democratic presidential candidates raised $179.3 million through June 30, compared with $118 million for the nine declared Republican candidates. That figure doesn’t include former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who is expected to enter the race around Labor Day, and hasn’t yet filed any fund-raising reports.

The Republican money leader, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, lags far behind the top two Democrats, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. Obama. Mr. Romney has raised $44 million, including nearly $9 million of his own money, to their $63 million and $59 million, respectively.

The Democratic lead is especially striking because Republicans have long been viewed as closer to affluent donors and corporate sources of campaign cash — and because 2002 campaign-finance reforms were originally expected to hurt Democrats more than Republicans.

The WSJ also reports that since the ‘02 election cycle, “Democrats — led by Terry McAuliffe, then chairman of the DNC — have invested heavily in building databases and Internet fund-raising tools to reach out to smaller donors.”

McAuliffe touts the Dems “Demzilla” database, as a tool that “includes detailed profiles of more than 150 million potential voters and donors” and that database was credited with helping John Kerry “come close to matching President Bush in fund raising during the last presidential election.” The other big boon for Dems is their online organzing and internet activism, reports that WSJ, “Republican voters tend to gravitate toward traditional media like talk radio, Democratic voters with strong opinions are more likely to go online to read blogs.”

Many Democrats give by clicking links to candidates on the Web site ActBlue, a clearinghouse for small donors. ActBlue has raised $5.6 million for Democratic House, Senate and presidential candidates, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a Web site that tracks donations. It was the single biggest source of contributions to the party’s presidential candidates during the first six months of the year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In a report last week, the center said ActBlue donors gave more in aggregate than the total from employees of heavy corporate contributors like Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Finally, the WSJ notes that “some wealthy Republicans also are switching sides, including business executives who want access to the levers of power, or who simply don’t mind crossing party lines to support candidates they like.” Many wealthy Republicans say “they are disturbed by the steep growth in government spending under President Bush, as well as the perceived erosion of America’s standing in the world.”

The L.A. Times also reports today that “small donors” are playing “bigger roles” in campaign fundraising.

In other ‘08 election news, tThe WaPo reports in a new poll that by a “wide margin, Democrats view Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) as the party’s candidate best positioned to win the general election, and she holds a double-digit lead over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the race for the nomination.” It’s still early in the race, and as I have said here many times, anything can happen. But, the WaPo reports that “Clinton remains the candidate to beat in the Democratic field.”

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