It's that time of year again, folks. June 30 is the second-quarter fund-raising deadline for 2008 presidential hopefuls, and the big question heading into Saturday is how much money the campaigns have raised and spent during the last three months. Technically, the candidates don't have to tell us until July 15, when their disclosure reports are due at the Federal Election Commission. But if their handling of the first-quarter numbers is any indication, the candidates will probably brag about how much they've raised well before the deadline, possibly as early as next week.

But "brag" might be a strong word. Already many candidates are playing the expectations game--as in, uh oh, maybe we didn't do as well as we hoped. Some of this is smoke and mirrors. Hillary Clinton types, for example, are spreading word that she might be beaten by Barack Obama again when it comes to primary fund-raising, while Obama aides, off the record of course, are putting the onus on Hillary, talking a sad story about how tough it is to compete against the Clinton money juggernaut. The truth is, we just won't know until we see the numbers.