Dems Eyeing War Chests as Race Goes National

Democratic candidates for president were nervously counting their pennies as the race for the White House went national Wednesday.

The campaigns for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search), former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (search) and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (search) have all said they went far past their budgets in last week's Iowa caucuses, which was expected to hit a new record for advertising and overall spending, Fox News learned.

Frontrunner Kerry mortgaged his home a month ago to loan his campaign more than $6 million. Most of that money has evaporated.

Since the Iowa caucuses, Kerry aides have said they've received $1.1 million. Now that he's won the New Hampshire primaries, he can expect to get three to four times that much.

Dean pulled his commercials off the air in all seven of the states voting on Feb. 3 so that he could make an all-or-nothing push in New Hampshire.

Wesley Clark (search), Sen. Joe Lieberman (search) and Edwards were limiting their advertising to states where their prospects seemed the brightest.

The Dean campaign has said it's received $1.5 million since Iowa and raised more than $200,000 in the 24 hours before the New Hampshire primary, but has been spending it just as quickly.

Aides admitted cash was tight, telling Fox News' Brit Hume on Tuesday they needed to raise more ad money.

Dean was counting on money and help from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

But Fox News learned that Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy has been pressuring both the SEIU and the AFSCME to withdraw their endorsements of Dean and back Kerry instead.

Kerry aides told Fox they didn't believe the two labor unions would pull out of supporting Dean, but they were hoping Kennedy's push would have some effect.

Historically, the candidate who has come in second in the first two contests has found it much harder to raise money than the frontrunner.

Fox News' Carl Cameron, Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.