During a similar time frame in 2005, Republicans raised 62 million dollars through their national and congressional committees, and Democrats about 32 million dollars. At the end of the first quarter of 2003, the Republican advantage was bigger: 54million dollars to the Democrats' 19 million dollars.

The Democrats' fundraising gains were most evident at congressional level. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised 13.7 million dollars to the National Republican Senatorial Committee's 7 million dollars. The DSCC also ended March with nearly triple the money in the bank -- 9.5 million dollars to 3.45 million dollars.

The House picture was not much better for Republicans. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee collected 19 million dollars between January and March and had 9.8 million dollars in the bank. The National Republican Congressional Committee raised 15.8 million dollars in the quarter and had 2.5 million dollars to spend.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) was the lone saving grace for Republicans' financial hopes, raising 24.6 million dollars in the period -- nearly 10 million dollars more than the DNC. The RNC closed March with 12.8 million dollars, against the DNC's 6.9 million dollars.

In the presidential race, leading Democrat candidates also enjoyed a money advantage over their Republican rivals.

From January to March this year, Democrat Senators Hillary Clinton, of New York, and Barack Obama, of Illinois, raised 26 million dollars and 25.7 million dollars respectively for their presidential campaigns. The only Republican candidate who raised more than 20 million dollars during the three-month period was Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, who raised 20.7 million dollars.

Gonzales had gone to Capitol Hill Thursday with just one mission: to placate Republican and Democratic senators dissatisfied with his account of how eight federal prosecutors were fired.

Apparently, he failed. For the first time, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee broke ranks and said it might be best if Gonzales stepped down.

"It is generous to say the attorney general's communications about this matter have been inconsistent," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Gonzales in a packed hearing room Thursday. "The consequence should be the resignation of the attorney general."

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview after the hearing, "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there."

Some of the committee's biggest questions went unanswered: How exactly did the Justice Department settle on the eight prosecutors who were fired? Does Gonzales have command of his agency?

"You have been a forceful witness, and you have had a lot of staying power," Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, said near the end of Gonzales' seven hours of testimony.

"But we haven't gotten, really, answers," added Specter, R-Pa. "I urged you to put on the record the details as to all the U.S. attorneys you asked to resign so that we could evaluate. And you have not done that."

Specter threw Gonzales a thin lifeline, declining to call for his resignation but making it clear that he thinks there's little argument for Gonzales keeping his post.

"His ability to manage the department has been severely undercut by the way he has handled these resignations and by the way he has handled his news conferences, his press statements and his testimony before the committee," Specter said.

The District of Columbia currently has a delegate in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is able to vote in committee and on some amendments, but is not allowed to vote on the final passage of a bill. A February report by the Congressional Research Service flagged the potential unconstitutionality of any bill granting a House vote for the District, focusing on the language in Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution that the House is to be comprised by the "people of the several States."

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday sought the dismissal of all pending Guantanamo Bay detainee habeas corpus cases in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The motion to dismiss was filed in response to the US Supreme Court denying petitions for certiorari earlier this month on two cases challenging the Military Commissions Act (MCA). The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit had upheld the habeas-stripping provisions of the act in February. In Thursday's motion, the DOJ argued that February's motion, and this month's denial of cert, means that all litigation should be in the DC Circuit. The DOJ stressed that lawyers will continue to be allowed to meet with their clients during a "reasonable transition period," but in the future, client-visit priority will be given to lawyers who are pursuing litigation in the DC Circuit court.

The MCA, signed into law last October, denies federal courts the right to hear habeas corpus petitions. Shortly after the bill was enacted, the DOJ notified the DC Circuit that it no longer had authority to hear such cases. The court had stayed the almost 200 cases affected by the act, pending the legal challenges to the MCA.

Defense attorney Jacqueline Ross said at Smith's arraignment that his client is taking psychiatric medication and being treated for mental health problems. She is being held without bail.

Prosecutors say Smith gave a videotaped statement in which she admitted to starting the blaze by trying to warm her feet by lighting a dollar bill that an apartment visitor had given her.

Smith was wearing plastic bags on her feet when she was arrested at a nearby coffee house. Prosecutors have not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.