Dole Ahead in GOP’s Fund-Raising Race : Politics: The presidential hopeful collected $9 million in the past three months, more than Gramm or Wilson. Clinton has raised more than $8 million.

Proving again the adage that political money chases the front-runner, Bob Dole’s presidential campaign raised more than $9 million in the past three months, rocketing past other candidates for the Republican nomination.

Texas Sen. Phil Gramm cleared barely a third of Dole’s amount in the same period. The new fund-raising figures for Gramm seemed to confirm that after a strong start, his campaign has lost much of its momentum.

California Gov. Pete Wilson, who earlier boasted of $15 million in pledged donations, actually received only $3.8 million in the second quarter of the year. The slow pace was attributed by analysts to his throat problems and to reservations among big California donors about his running for President and running the state at the same time.

President Clinton, who so far faces no competition among fellow Democrats, has raised more than $8 million since he formed his reelection committee on April 10, including nearly $3 million from three $1,000-a-head fund-raisers in the last 10 days.

Campaign aides for the Kansas senator exulted over Dole’s fiscal prowess and his large lead in the polls over his GOP rivals. The aides noted that the campaign was bringing in $100,000 a day and that 140,000 individuals had contributed.

“From every perspective--fund-raising, message, political organization--we are dominating our opponents and reinforcing our position as the GOP’s front-runner,” said campaign manager Scott Reed. “We are raising money faster, spending it slower and, most importantly, getting better results for our money.”

For the first half of the year, the Dole campaign has raised $13.4 million, including $240,000 in funds transferred from his 1992 Senate reelection campaign. Dole’s presidential campaign qualified for an additional $5.3 million in federal matching funds, which will be available at the beginning of next year.

The Dole campaign has $6.5 million in cash on hand.

Wilson campaign officials acknowledged that fund raising had fallen far below expectations, but said that the three-month period closed “with a rush,” bringing in $1.7 million in the past two weeks after Wilson returned to the campaign trail following recovery from throat surgery that literally had silenced his message.

“Our contributors know that Pete Wilson is the Republican candidate who can beat Bill Clinton next November, and ever since they’ve heard him speaking forcefully again and seen him campaigning, our fund raising has taken off,” said campaign manager Craig Fuller.

Gramm’s people tried to put the best face on the dramatic slowdown of their candidate’s money-raising pace in the second three months of the year after an impressive start.

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Gramm garnered $3.4 million in the April-June period, after raising more than twice that--$8.7 million--in the year’s first three months. He spent more than he raised in the second quarter, according to figures prepared for the Federal Election Commission.

“We’re right on target for where we wanted to be,” said Gramm spokesman Gary Koops. He said that Dole’s fund-raising spurt in the second quarter was similar to Gramm’s in the first. “If you take that into account, our trend lines look similar.”

Gramm said earlier this year that he had behind him the politician’s best friend--”ready money.”

Dole’s chief spokesman, releasing the Kansas senator’s financial figures, couldn’t resist a jab at Gramm. “If Mr. Gramm’s best friend is ready money, it looks like his friend left town,” said Dole aide Nelson Warfield. “It really is pretty stunning, the way this caved in for him in the second quarter. He ended up in deficit spending, a bad position for a presumptive fiscal conservative to be in.”

A spokesman for Lamar Alexander’s GOP campaign said that the former Tennessee governor raised $2.5 million between April and the end of June, bringing his total for the first half of the year to $7.6 million. “Obviously we’re pleased, because with matching funds we’re halfway through the year and halfway to our goal of $20 million,” said Alexander aide Mark Merritt.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) raised $2.95 million for his presidential campaign during the past three months, said spokesman Terry Holt.

Roger Stone, consultant for the presidential campaign of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), said reports to the Federal Election Commission would show that Specter has raised close to $2 million, but that a month-end direct-mail appeal for funds had been delayed by a Postal Service error.

Estimates for the other GOP candidates--conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and former Senate candidate Alan Keyes of Maryland--were not available.