Hillary Clinton sets fundraising record

US presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton has raised a record amount of funds for her campaign.

Clinton, who hopes to become the first female president of the USA, announced $26m (€19.5m) in new contributions for the first quarter of the year.

The Democrat senator, wife of former president Bill Clinton, also revealed that she had transferred about 10 million dollars from her last Senate campaign, bringing her total receipts for the quarter to $36m (€13.5m).

Democrat rival John Edwards’ campaign said he had raised more than $14m (€10.5m) since the beginning of the year.

Clinton aides would not specify how many of her contributions were designated only for the primary election and how many could only be used in the general election, if she were the party’s nominee.

Edwards' aides said about $1m (€750,000) of his contributions could only be used in a general election.

Neither campaign divulged how much money it had spent in the quarter or how much cash it had in hand.

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

Democrat Senator Barack Obama – sandwiched in public opinion polls between Clinton and Edwards – had yet to reveal his totals.

The fundraising deadline for the January to March period was Saturday, with financial reports due on April 15.