Sen. Barack Obama’s wife Michelle made the following statement yesterday:

“Iowa will make the difference,” Mrs. Obama said. “If Barack doesn’t win Iowa, it is just a dream. If we win Iowa, then we can move to the world as it should be.”

The campaign is now trying to downplay the comment.

John Edwards has accepted public funding for his campaign, a sign that Q3 won’t be any better than the first two fundraising quarters for the Edwards camp.

The campaign is defending the decision continuing their rhetoric of money corrupting politics but it is hard to deny that this will be seen as Edwards not being able to mount an effective fundraising campaign while attacking lobbyists, corporate donors and monied interests.

Marc Ambinder points to a damning quote from Edwards campaign advisor Joe Trippi who said in 2003 while working on Dean for America:

“This campaign believes that any Democratic campaign that opted into the matching-funds system has given up on the general election.

ABC News is reporting that the The National Republican Congressional Committee which raises money to fund GOP House races is nearly bankrupt. With $1.6 million cash on hand but over $4 million in debts the committee is trailing its Democratic counterpart which has $22.1 million.

The news is turning back to fundraising. Two new articles, one from Politico looking at how the Obama campaign is courting and encouraging small donors, including small donor bundling, and one from NewsDay talking about how overall fundraising has slowed for the Democratic candidates.

The thing to remember is that we should expect fundraising to slow at this point as donors have been tapped out. What is AMAZING is that even if both Clinton and Obama pull in under 20 million each that is a huge amount that blows away the Republicans and really is breaking all-time records.

Well it is about a week out before the end of Q3 fundraising, which means it is time for the Clinton camp to start playing with peoples expectations. They have done this every quarter. In Q1 they were out in front touting the big numbers they received, which included Senate campaign money, to Drudge and then started speculating on what Obama would pull in.

In Q2 they said Obama would significantly eclipse their fundraising.

This time they are saying Obama will take them by 10 Million dollars raising a total of around $30 to Clinton’s $17 - $20 million.

Obama’s people have fought back suggesting it is Clinton who would be the leader with an estimate of $35 Million for Clinton and $17-$19 for themselves. Which means to me both campaigns are bringing in the same kind of money and trying to play it down.