Presidential candidates have put the brakes on their campaigns in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, a pause that's allowed for more analysis of fundraising totals and recent campaign developments.

The Washington Post's John Solomon and Matthew Mosk report that the "two most dominant political fundraising networks" of the past 25 years belonged to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, which now have splintered among their respective parties' candidates for 2008.

Bush's Rangers and Pioneers have split among the three leading GOP contenders, with Mitt Romney receiving donations from the most of the 630 former Bush fundraisers, Sen. John McCain from 17 fewer than Romney and Rudy Giuliani getting 25 fewer than McCain. Most of Bush's former fundraising team have been "contacted directly by each candidate, several of them multiple times."

Dozens of Clinton-era donors have migrated away from Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign, most notably the Hollywood dream team of David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, who are supporting Sen. Barack Obama, who is the main draw for Clinton defectors. The Post's Dan Balz writes that some switches may be due to "Clinton fatigue." Overall, the hauls have "crystallized" the fact that each party's nomination contest is "more open than it was just three months ago." Balz also brings much of the Internet hoopla back to earth: "big donors still ruled in the first quarter, with roughly 80 percent of donations coming in amounts of $1,000 or more."

An assortment of reports out of the early and large primary states shows how the race is developing on the sub-national level. John Edwards raised more money in South Carolina than any other presidential candidate, while Romney beat his fellow Republicans. In Iowa, Romney raised the most of any presidential candidate with $40,750 and Edwards beat the other Democrats. (The paltry numbers might back up Jonathan Martin's report that Iowans are uninspired by the GOP field).

Romney posted another title in New Hampshire where he raised twice as much as second-place finisher Obama. In Clinton's Western New York backyard, Edwards raised $143,225, which is about $42,000 more than Clinton.

In Florida and California, Democrats are beating Republicans. Democrats raised more than $4 million in Florida, with Clinton and Obama receiving the largest share, while Republicans raised about $3 million there, with McCain leading the GOP. Californians gave about $20 million to the race, with Democrats holding a 3-to-2 margin over Republicans.

On the trail, Obama's campaign seems to be borrowing "themes, messages, and even specific lines" from Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick's campaign. Meanwhile, Clinton gave $4,000 to Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's senior Democrat in Congress as part of her effort to win his support.

On the policy side, McCain said yesterday in an speech on the economy that government shouldn't ask from families "more than is necessary to do the things they cannot do for themselves" and that pork barrel politics "balkanizes America into competing interests groups" like race-, religion-, or class-based politics do. He also said lower trade barriers creates more jobs, higher wages, keeps inflation and interest rates low and that "protectionism threatens those benefits."

McCain called for the line-item veto, promised to balance the budget and secure entitlements before leaving the White House, and said he would work to overhaul unemployment insurance.

Get these and today's other elections stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.