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RALEIGH — By some measures, state Sen. Kay Hagan's U.S. Senate campaign is off to a slow start. She has not hired a campaign manager, and her time campaigning has been limited.

Hagan has spent much of the first three months in her campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole raising money and putting a finance team in place.

"We have her on the phone six hours a day ... on fundraising calls," said Linda Cary, who managed Hagan's state Senate campaigns and will serve as treasurer for her U.S. Senate run.

Although campaign reports don't have to be filed until the end of the month, Cary said that Hagan raised $561,836 in the latter months of 2007, mostly from North Carolina contributors.

"That's not bad," said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic strategist who is not working for the Hagan campaign. "I would think that people around the country are going to look at that and say, 'That's pretty healthy.' "

Early fundraising success is important because it will help draw national donors to the campaign. Estimates of what it will take to run a statewide primary and then have a legitimate shot of unseating Dole start at $8 million and some go to $12 million.

"We will not raise that much money in state," Cary said. Although initial fundraising efforts tapped Hagan's in-state network, Cary said the pace of fundraising would increase this month and donors from out-of-state would be key.

Dole's campaign said the incumbent raised $1.1 million in the last three months of 2007, bringing her total for the year to $4.8 million. Dole is unlikely to have to wage much of a primary, but Hagan faces an opponent who has been a fundraiser for presidential candidates.

Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill investment banker and Hagan's chief rival, did not release his fundraising totals Friday.

"I know we had a good quarter, but we could have done better," Neal said, predicting that the first three months of this year would be "very big."

Neal has spent more time on the road attending events and doing what candidates call retail politicking.

"I'm out meeting as many people as I possibly can," Neal said.

He and Hagan are scheduled to make their first joint appearance before the Cabarrus County Democratic Women's club today.

Still, Hagan is a good 12 points ahead of Neal in a recent survey by Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling. The bulk of voters were undecided, but Hagan's lead would seem to indicate she has not yet suffered from not being on the campaign trail.

"I don't look at any polls. All I can say is up, down, even or whatever it said we are, I think New Hampshire showed us polls don't mean anything," Neal said, referring to the failure of polls in that state's primary to predict New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's victory.

Hagan's online presence also lags Neal's, whose site uses video and audio and an online journal. Hagan's Web site has change little since her Oct. 30 entry into the campaign. Cary said potential contractors for overhauling the Web site this week may be interviewed this week.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com