The former U.S. senator–the first African-American woman ever in that job–announced in February that she was forming a presidential exploratory committee. But so far, she hasn’t made much of a showing. She has come in last in the race for money to date: she raised $72,450 in the first quarter of this year. (That’s about 1 percent of what Sen. John Edwards raised.)

Last week, at a Washington event sponsored by EMILY’s List–a group that supports women candidates (but is still evaluating the “merits” of Braun’s race)–the former senator and ambassador to New Zealand under Bill Clinton made a candid pitch: “We need your help, we need your checks, we need your networking, we need your support,” she said. “Without it, really it will be a lonely effort.”

It’s lonely at the bottom. Moseley Braun’s office reflects the tight purse strings. I finally found it around the corner from the WIC Food Center and inside a building housing a foster-care agency. Her receptionist, a friendly young woman in jeans, seemed surprised to see me. When I asked for campaign literature, she had to go track it down. There was no packet with a glossy bumper sticker or a yard sign, just three sheets of paper with a short bio and some supportive quotes dating back to February. “Thanks for coming in!” the young woman said hopefully.

I had tried to get an appointment with the head of the “Carol for President” fund-raising department before I stopped by, but she had turned me down for an interview. So did the candidate herself. Her press secretary back in Washington explained that Moseley Braun didn’t want to talk about the fund-raising dilemma right now. “She is aggressively trying to step up her efforts,” the aide explained. Just how remains unclear. Moseley Braun was in the office when I came in, but “in a meeting.”

The Democratic primary campaign for the 2004 election is just getting going, but Moseley Braun admitted at the EMILY’s List event in Washington that she’ll have to “fold my tent” if she doesn’t start raising some more money, and soon. Like many underfunded candidates, she is hoping that Internet contributions will help fill coffers. That’s worked surprising well for one of her rivals, Howard Dean.

But even her Internet sales on the Just Politics Web site–an online Democratic paraphernalia store–do not bode well for Moseley Braun, who gets 10 percent of every bumper sticker or pin sold. And her campaign materials are priced to sell. The site has marked down her pins from $5.95 to $2. “While Supply Lasts” the site touts.

The next round of financial filing is due at the end of June; it will reveal just what kind of success she’s having. But already many are predicting that Moseley Braun will have to drop out even before her own Chicago neighbors realize she’s there. “The [Democratic candidates] have to raise $30 or $40 million this year. If they don’t, they’re toast,” explains Chuck Lewis of The Center for Public Integrity, which will publish “The Buying of a President 2004” in January.

Some have taken Moseley Braun’s lackluster fund-raising as a sign that she isn’t a serious contender, or that she is really just a Democratic machine-spoiler trying to draw votes away from the other, more controversial African-American candidate, the Rev. Al Sharpton.

But the National Organization of Women’s Kim Gandy hopes that Moseley Braun will stay in the race long enough to push her particular causes. “Economic issues and family issues that frequently drive women’s votes have historically been treated as an afterthought,” Gandy says. “Carol Moseley Braun is pressing those issues to the front.”

But the would-be-candidate’s own economic issues seem to be the most pressing right now.