Joe Trippi, of the Edwards campaign, says “we’re about two-thirds of the way towards our goal of raising $9 million.” So Edwards has about $6 million, with ten days to go in the second quarter.

Patrick Ruffini, formerly Rudy’s web/blog guy, is close to declaring Edwards is finished.

If he’s in seven figures, while Hillary and Obama are in the $20 million-$30 million range for the quarter, then yeah, it will confirm the perception that his third place is a distant third place, and coverage of the Democratic race will focus much more on the Big Two.

UPDATE: Then again, maybe headlines like “Edwards Fares Best Against GOP Rivals” will keep him in the game.

Or a Rasmussen poll showing Edwards beating McCain 49 percent to 36 percent (huh?) and Edwards beating Romney 51 percent to 33 percent (double huh?).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Okay, I just looked at the PublicPolicyPolling results, and their sample was 44 percent Democrat, 40 percent Republican in North Carolina; also it was 54 percent women and 46 percent men.