“Candidates run two campaigns, one for votes and one for resources,” said Paul Herrnson, director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland. “A lot of people early on expected Hillary Clinton to walk away with the election without any trouble, and money usually flows to winners.”

Overall, the D.C. region is the third-most generous for the Obama campaign, behind Chicago and New York.

The D.C. area is second to New York in writing checks for Clinton, particularly big-money zip codes 20016, 20007 and 20008 — Georgetown, the neighborhood around American University and Cleveland Park.

“The Clintons were in the White House for eight years and built ties, and their former staffers are scattered throughout the city still in a variety of positions, and many of then are earning a lot more money than they did in the White House,” said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics, which follows campaign donations. “I’m not surprised that someone who’s been in Washington a lot longer than her opponent will raise more money here.”

At this point, that advantage has been eroded by Obama’s momentum. Short on cash, Clinton recently lent her campaign $5 million, though she claims to have earned more than $10 million since Super Tuesday.

Now the New York senator is playing herself off as the underdog as the February primaries roll on.

“Many of these contests play to my opponent’s strong suits — including his virtually unlimited funds,” Clinton said in a recent e-mail to supporters. “I am relying on you to overcome that gap …”