Washington ? Front-runner Howard Dean has broken former President Clinton’s Democratic record for most money in a three-month burst, while new rival Wesley Clark is turning to some of Clinton’s most loyal and effective fund-raisers to help him jump-start his presidential campaign.

No Democrat is coming close to President Bush’s fund raising, however. Bush is expected to collect about $43 million by the time the third quarter ends next Tuesday, bringing his total this year to roughly $78 million, GOP officials said.

Dean, raising millions on the Internet, is likely to take in $13 million to $16 million this quarter, a campaign insider said. That would lift him to at least $23.5 million for the race so far and likely make him the Democratic money leader for the year.

Democratic strategists say Dean could raise at least double what his party’s other top hopefuls will collect during the third quarter. The former Vermont governor has already passed the Democratic record set by Clinton, who took in $10.3 million over three months in 1995 for his re-election.

Bush set an overall single-quarter record in the last period, collecting $35.1 million in his first six weeks of the 2004 campaign, breaking the record of about $29.7 million he set in 1999. Bush’s expected take of $43 million in this period is likely to set a record.

The Democrat who emerges as the party’s presumptive nominee will be helped with about $16 million in spending by the Democratic National Committee. Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the DNC already had raised at least $8 million for that effort.

The Democrats will need it; Bush is widely expected to raise $200 million or more for the primary season, without a GOP opponent. Bush raised more than $100 million for the primaries in 2000.