Black political observers said Tuesday that with over $20 million in Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign war chest, he could keep pace and perhaps even eclipse Sen. Hillary Clinton, who shattered fundraising records with $26 million raised over the first three months of the year.

Republican Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, posted $23 million in fundraising for this quarter, leading all GOP presidential candidates.

According to The New York Times, Obama has raised more than $20 million so far, and some say he’s on track to stay competitive with Clinton. Aides to Obama say he has more than 83,000 donors and, privately, Clinton's supporters worry that Obama could surpass her in fundraising.

"I think we'll do well," Obama recently told Associated Press. "I think that we should meet people's expectations. More importantly, I think we will have raised enough money to make sure we can compete for the next quarter and beyond. I think we'll do pretty well."

A top Clinton fundraiser took a jab at the rival. Obama "doesn't have the sustainability and doesn't have the ability to raise what the Clintons are able to raise," said John Catsimatidis. "Regardless of what he reports, at the end of the day, the Clintons get the nomination."

Obama’s ability to raise so much money so quickly has surprised many in politics, including the Clinton campaign, especially since Obama is a newcomer to national politics and who was essentially unknown outside of Illinois just a year ago. Nobody -- not even the Obama campaign -- expected Obama’s campaign to attract such widespread enthusiasm from grassroots groups to Hollywood superstars.

"If Obama raises $20 million in this cycle, he has a great launching pad," Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "To the extent that he has staying power and doesn’t make mistakes, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to keep up with Clinton."

"Money is very important as this time," Walters said. "The estimates for this campaign are astronomical. To win the nomination, it could take $500 million on each side. This could be the first billion-dollar presidential campaign."

The campaigns have nearly two weeks to disclose how much money they've spent, how much they have in the bank and some details about where their donations came from.

Colorado state Sen. Peter C. Groff, publisher of Blackpolicy.org and executive director of the Center for African-American Policy at the University of Denver, said the new fundraising figures are a glimpse into a long race.

"We'll still have to wait and see before drawing the conclusion that Obama's latest fundraising figures mean that he'll either edge Clinton out in future quarters or ultimately defeat her in the primary. This is an unusually early primary, and anything can happen between now and then," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"But, what we can draw from this is that Obama is, without question, one of the most viable candidates in the entire presidential field. Here, in his first quarter, he's already outpacing Rudy Giuliani, who's second to Mitt Romney in the GOP field," he said.

"This is rather impressive. Here you have Obama, someone no one knew a few years ago, raising a comparable amount of loot in no time and piecing together quite an organization literally on the fly," Groff said. "It's more impressive than Clinton, considering time has been on her side since her husband won two terms as president."

Walters said many of Obama’s donors, like Hollywood millionaire David Geffen, are in the campaign for "the long haul," and he added that Obama has been successful in collecting donations through the Internet, which will be a critical fundraising tool in the months ahead.

"I’m surprised," Walters said. "And the Obama campaign said they’d be happy with $7 million this cycle. They low-balled their expectations."

According to The New York Times, Obama used his 2004 Senate race as a foundation for his current fund-raising efforts.

"Interviews and campaign finance reports show Mr. Obama drew crucial early support from Chicago’s thriving black professional class, using it as a springboard to other rainmakers within the broader party establishment. Soon he was drawing money -- and, just as valuable, buzz -- among wealthy Chicago families like the Crowns and the Pritzkers, as well as friends from Harvard Law School," the Times reported.

Some black political experts told BlackAmericaWeb.com that leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson, who endorsed Obama last week, could help bring in major donations as well as votes.

Walters said the presidential campaign sets up a split in black leadership.

"This campaign is a tale of two cities," Walters said. "People like Jesse from Chicago are supporting Obama, and (Rep.) Charles Rangel and others from New York are supporting Hillary Clinton. And Sharpton -- who is from New York -- has not endorsed Obama."

"They’re playing homeboy politics," Walters said.

Meanwhile, former Sen. John Edwards raised more than $14 million since the beginning of the year. Clinton transferred $10 million from her Senate campaign account, bringing her total receipts for the quarter to $36 million. 

Unlike Edwards, Clinton aides would not reveal how much of her total was available only for the primary election and how much could be used just in the general election, if she were the party's nominee. By not breaking down the amount available for the primaries, the Clinton camp made it impossible to assess how much of an edge she actually has over Edwards.

Edwards' aides said about $1 million of his $14 million in contributions could only be used in the general election, should he win the nomination.

Neither Clinton nor Edwards disclosed how much money they spent in the quarter or how much cash they had in hand, numbers that also give clues to the relative strengths of the campaigns.

Still, the total raised by each candidate outdistanced past presidential election records and set a new bar by which to measure fundraising abilities.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign said he had raised $6 million in primary campaign money, and had more than $5 million cash in hand at the end of the three-month period.

Aides to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said he raised more than $4 million in the quarter, transferred nearly $5 million form his Senate campaign account and had $7.5 million cash on hand.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) had total receipts close to $4 million for the quarter, an aide said Sunday. That amount includes less than $2 million transferred from his Senate campaign account. Richardson, Dodd and Biden only raised primary election money.

The rest of the Democratic field and the Republican presidential candidates planned to announce their first-quarter totals over the next few days. The fundraising deadline for the January through March period was Saturday, with financial reports due April 15.

Mitt Romney on Tuesday credited his lead in Republican presidential fundraising to "a message that's connecting" and said he isn't worried about his relatively low standing in the polls.

The former Massachusetts governor, who posted a staggering $23 million in first-quarter fundraising, said "the polls at this stage are name ID. ... Of course, I'm not a household name." He said he's concentrating his early efforts on organizing and fundraising in the early delegate-selection states.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has amassed a sizable lead in national popularity polls of GOP candidates, reported raising $15 million, while Republican Sen. John McCain, the Arizona senator, said he raised $12.5 million.

Fundraising has been the top priority of the presidential campaigns. Clinton has packed her schedule with gala events and intimate dinners and has received substantial help from her husband, former President Bill Clinton, a hit among contributors.

Edwards, a former trial lawyer, has lawyers in prominent positions on his fundraising team. The Edwards campaign saw a spike in donations, especially online, after Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced that her cancer had returned and was incurable.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.