SAN FRANCISCO — Senator Obama of Illinois bested Senator Clinton by a surprising $5.7 million in fund raising for the Democratic presidential nomination, new financial reports show.

In filings with the Federal Election Commission yesterday, the upstart senator said he raised $24.8 million for the primary, while the New York senator showed $19.1 million in contributions for the intra-party battle.

However, President Clinton told donors to his wife’s campaign yesterday that she will emerge as the party’s nominee because she is trouncing her rivals with her mastery of the issues. Speaking to about 400 of his wife’s supporters yesterday morning at a hotel atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill, Mr. Clinton did not comment on the financial upset, attendees said.

The former president boasted, though, that his wife scored a knockout over Mr. Obama and her other rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in Las Vegas last month during a union-backed forum on health care.

“He said if that were a prize fight they would have stopped it because she did so much better than the rest,” one donor, Stephen Silberstein of Marin County, Calif., said after the president spoke. The press was not invited to the breakfast session, but several people present discussed the gist of Mr. Clinton’s remarks with The New York Sun.

Donors said Mr. Clinton praised the quality of the Democratic field and went out of his way to avoid criticizing any of Mrs. Clinton’s competitors. “He didn’t put anybody down,” an importer and host of a Greek-American radio show, Savas Deligiorgis, said.

However, the former president’s comment about Mrs. Clinton outclassing the field in Las Vegas could be taken as a hit on Mr. Obama, whose performance there was panned by party activists and bloggers. “He gives great speeches but there’s no substance to them,” Mr. Silberstein, who attended the Nevada forum, said.

Mr. Clinton told guests that Mrs. Clinton’s biggest vulnerability was the suggestion by her opponents that she is too divisive to win the general election. “They try to paint her as divisive because they know she can win,” Mr. Silberstein said. “She’s not divisive, as her performance in New York State, as well as the Senate, has shown.”

In response to a question from a young girl in the audience, Mr. Clinton laid out the factors he said were important in selecting a running mate, though he did not tip his hand by mentioning any specific possibilities, attendees said. Mr. Clinton said the vice presidential pick was likely to be someone who ran in the Democratic primary and did well, someone of a somewhat different political outlook than the presidential nominee, and someone who exhibited the hands-on skills to take on specific projects the president might need tackled.

Mrs. Clinton actually raised more money than Mr. Obama in the first quarter, pulling in $26 million to his $25.8 million. However, nearly $7 million of Mrs. Clinton’s money came from large donors who gave more than the $2,300 limit for the primary under campaign finance law.

In an effort to counter Mr. Obama’s strong showing, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign advertised to reporters her total for cash on hand as of March 31. That impressive $31 million figure includes $10 million she transferred from her Senate bid. However, only about $24 million of that total can be spent on the presidential nominating contest. The rest is reserved for the general election, should Mrs. Clinton be the Democratic nominee. Her campaign also reported owing about $1.6 million to vendors.

Mr. Obama’s camp reported $18.2 million on hand. Both of the top Democratic campaigns incurred expenses at about the same rate. When outlays and debts incurred were totaled for the first quarter, each spent about $7 million.

The no. 3 fund-raiser among Democrats was a former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards. He raised $13 million for the primary and had $10.7 million in the bank at the end of the quarter.

Governor Richardson of New Mexico raised $6.25 million and had $5 million on hand. Senator Dodd of Connecticut had $6.4 million on hand, but most of it came from leftover Senate campaign funds. Senator Biden of Delaware raised $4 million had $2.8 million on hand.

Most Republican candidates released final fund-raising numbers before the deadline yesterday. A former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, led the pack financially with $20.7 million raised. Mr. Romney and Mayor Giuliani both reported about $10 million on hand as of March 31. Senator McCain of Arizona came in third in the Republican fund-raising sweepstakes, with $12.5 million raised. He is revamping his funding efforts.