Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) presidential campaign said Monday that the senator raised $20 million for the third quarter, with more than $19 million for use in the primaries. The third-quarter haul brings Obama’s total for the primary to just less than $75 million.

As they did after the first and second quarters, campaign officials used the shocking amounts of money to paint a picture of an intensely competitive race with front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

“Many in Washington have spent the last weeks declaring [the] outcome of this race to be pre-ordained, and the primary process a mere formality,” Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said in a statement. “Yet, in this quarter alone, 93,000 more Americans joined our campaign, because they desire real change and believe Barack Obama is the one candidate who can deliver it. This grassroots movement for change will not be deterred by Washington conventional wisdom because in many ways it is built to challenge it.”