AP Photo 2016 Clinton raises $28 million but Sanders’ haul is too close for comfort 
 
 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign barely outpaced Bernie Sanders’ in the third quarter of 2015, a surprising development that shows the insurgent candidate’s strength while the former secretary of state struggles. 
 
 Clinton’s operation raised more than $28 million in the third quarter after a grueling fundraising schedule, compared with about $26 million for the Vermonter — who raised his money largely from online donations, and few in-person fundraising events. 
 
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 The narrow gap illustrates Sanders’ momentum in the third quarter, as he overtook Clinton in polling in both New Hampshire and Iowa. But Clinton’s overall fundraising machine remains formidable: combined with the $47.5 million she raised in the second quarter, her campaign has brought in roughly $75 million in six months. Sanders, by comparison, raised just $15 million in his first few months. 
 
 While considerably less than her first haul, Clinton's $28 million figure doesn’t come as a huge surprise to her team. The campaign had expected her numbers to drop during the summer months, while she was dogged by questions about her email practices at the State Department and falling poll numbers in the early-voting states. 
 
 "We are thrilled and grateful for the support of hundreds of thousands of donors across the country, helping us raise a record $75 million in the first two quarters," said Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook in a statement. 
 
 The campaign's joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee and state parties brought in over $3 million, the campaign said. 
 
 But Sanders’ own eye-popping haul — he raised $2.07 million online on Sept 30 alone — gives Democrats reason for pause. Much of the party establishment’s argument against Sanders centers on whether he could stand head to head against a well-funded Republican in the general election. His now-demonstrated fundraising prowess hardly erases such concerns, but it calls the assumption into question. 
 
 Clinton’s allies also take solace in knowing that she has affiliated super PACs with considerable fundraising power, while Sanders refuses to associate with any such groups. Priorities USA Action, the big-money Clinton group, told POLITICO it had raised $40 million so far in 2015 by mid-August. 
 
 Sanders’ campaign said on Wednesday that it had passed the one-million contributor mark in the third quarter, while Clinton’s own operation said that 93 percent of her third-quarter donations came in increments of less than $100. 
 
 The full disclosures for the period that ended Sept. 30 will be released next week, and filings from both contenders will be scrutinized not only for the details about where the money came from but how the campaign then spent it. ||||| Boston (CNN) Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign raised more than $28 million in the third fundraising quarter of 2015, a number only slightly more than the $25 million Bernie Sanders raised. 
 
 Clinton's third quarter fundraising brings her total haul to $75 million, aides said. And while it is less than the $45 million Clinton's campaign raised in the second quarter, it appears the campaign is likely to reach it's $100 million goal by the end of 2015. 
 
 Sanders' fundraising is closing in on Clinton, however, despite only ever headlining seven fundraisers as a candidate. Michael Briggs, Sanders' spokesman, said Wednesday night that the campaign has $25 million cash-on-hand after raising $15 million in the second quarter. 
 
 Clinton and Sanders raised their money in very different ways. 
 
 Read More ||||| With hours to go before the third quarter campaign finance filing deadline, the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said it reached its goal of one million individual online contributions. 
 
 He is the first candidate of the 2016 campaign to announce it had reached this number – and he reached it faster than President Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012. 
 
 The Sanders campaign has touted its goal of hitting one million donations by tonight’s deadline to spur more individuals to donate.
– Bernie Sanders is raising a lot more money than many people expected, and he's doing it a lot faster. His campaign announced just before the Wednesday filing deadline that it has received more than a million online donations, making him the first 2016 candidate to pass that milestone and the first ever to pass it so early, reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that the Obama campaigns got there in February 2008 and October 2011. According to the filing, Sanders' fundraising is rapidly catching up with Hillary Clinton's, with the Vermont senator raising $25 million in the third quarter of this year, not far off the $28 million his rival raised during the same period, although her second-quarter numbers were much higher, CNN reports. Most of Clinton's cash in the third quarter came from the 58 fundraising events she headlined that asked donors to pay $2,700, CNN reports, while almost all of Sanders' take came from the online operation, which had an average donation of $24.86. But he has had to spend money to make money: The New York Times estimates that the Sanders campaign has already spent $15 million, mostly on hiring staff and on online fundraising, without spending much on commercials or polling. Politico calls his haul "eye-popping" and notes that it undercuts arguments that Sanders couldn't compete with a well-funded Republican. Clinton, however, has affiliated super PACs on her side and Sanders shuns such groups. (Polls show that Clinton is falling behind in New Hampshire.)