Washington ? The Democratic Party finds itself in its most confident and comfortable financial position in years, though it still trails Republicans in almost every fund-raising category.

President Bush’s fund-raising juggernaut keeps rolling, reaching more than $182 million Thursday and closing in on doubling the $100 million record he set in 2000.

The Democrats’ efforts to whittle away at the GOP’s spending advantage has been aided by presidential nominee-to-be John Kerry’s decision to skip public financing and its spending limits, anti-Bush sentiment over the Iraq war, elimination of the party’s debt, the formation of outside Democratic fund-raising groups and Howard Dean’s Internet fund-raising explosion.

“Everywhere I go I’ll talk to people, and they really feel we have a chance,” said Tony Coelho, a Democratic strategist and Al Gore’s campaign chairman in 2000. “They’re going to have $200 million or more. But I think as long as we’re around $100 million we’ll be competitive; we’ll get our message out.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe sees considerable progress toward that goal: The party entered April with $25 million in the bank to spend on Kerry’s behalf and no debt, its best shape at this point in an election season in years.

But the Republican money advantage remains significant, no matter how it is measured.

Bush spent about $40 million on TV and radio ads in his first month on the air, compared to only about $6 million for Kerry. Kerry has raised at least $67 million.

The Republican National Committee had $54 million on hand Thursday and no debt. The GOP’s Senate fund-raising committee had roughly twice as much in the bank as its Democratic rival. The Democratic House committee was closest to its Republican counterpart in cash on hand, $12.3 million compared to $16 million.