A distant third?

John Edwards will likely raise about $9 million during the second quarter.

That's probably far less than his rivals, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

As of Friday afternoon, the Edwards campaign reported on its website that it had raised $8.5 million and was making a major last minute push to reach $9 million. But even if reaches the goal by Saturday June 30th deadline, it will be less than the $14 million he raised during the first three months of the year.

A memo from the Clinton campaign suggested that it would raise about $27 million in the second quarter and said it expected Obama to raise even more.

"It's not great news if that is what happens," said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University. "Edwards is mentioned as a top tier candidate. This does not necessarily make him a second tier candidate. But he may be in an intermediate tier all by himself."

More after the jump.

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"Edwards is losing ground to Obama and Clinton," Taylor said.

During the past few days, the Edwards campaign has sought to make a last minute fund raising push by capitalizing on the criticisms of conservative columnist Ann Coulter. Edwards was scheduled to wrap up his quarterly fund raising with a six figure fund raiser at Figure 8 Island Saturday night.

During the equivalent period during the 2004 presidential cycle, Edwards raised $7.4 million during the first quarter and $4.5 million in the second quarter.