Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, and Rudy Giuliani have received nearly 75 percent of the major donations local residents gave to presidential candidates in the first nine months of 2007, according to an analysis of campaign finance returns by The Sun Chronicle.

Candidates raised significantly less money in the area during the summer months than they did in the first half of the year. From July 1 to Sept. 30, a dozen Republican and Democratic presidential candidates raised at least $13,843 from local residents. The contributions reported were made by 38 people - 30 of them making their first donation this year - so the average donor gave $364.

With the addition of this summer's donations, candidates have raised at least $92,902 here since the start of 2007. The amount is less than 1 percent of the nearly $12 million candidates have raised in Massachusetts this year.

However, those figures do not include smaller contributions from the area, because campaigns are not required to provide information on donors who gave $200 or less. The addition of those smaller contributions would almost certainly increase the total amount contributed locally.

This year continues to be a banner one for presidential fundraising, with candidates in both parties pulling in record amounts. In addition, a number of states have moved up the dates of their 2008 presidential primaries - including Iowa and New Hampshire, which host crucial early contests - so this is the last new set of campaign finance returns the Federal Election Commission will release before the first primary voters go to the polls in late December or early January. (The Massachusetts primary is March 4.)

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who leads the Republican field nationally with $62.8 million raised so far, also leads locally. He raised another $4,875 in the area this summer, bringing his local total to $31,400.

All told, 9 percent of Romney's contributions have come from Massachusetts, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. Romney has also donated $17.4 million of his own fortune to his campaign, which makes up more than a quarter of his total.

Romney's local total puts him about $20,000 ahead of the area's runner-up, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who raised a tiny $300 here over the summer, bringing his total to $11,900.

The other five Republican candidates who received donations from area residents were far behind Romney and Giuliani. Receiving their first donations were former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson ($375) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ($50).

The only candidate who gave Romney a run for his money as the top local recipient was New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, who raised $3,168 here this summer, bringing her local total to $25,068 - nearly 60 percent of the total given to Democratic candidates.

Clinton's leading opponents, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have failed to elicit much excitement among big donors around here.

Obama received $1,250 over the summer, bringing his local total for 2007 to $2,980. Edwards' numbers are even more dismal; he received just $50 over the summer, and has yet to get even $1,000 from here this year.

Indeed, Edwards' summer take was topped by two second-tier candidates, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden ($1,000) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ($250).

Democrats' limited financial success here, in contrast to their dominance nationally, has given Republicans an edge in the local money race, with GOP candidates receiving $50,750 and Democrats getting $42,652 this year. As for which places donate the most, Foxboro remains way ahead of Attleboro and the other eight towns in the Sun Chronicle area. Foxboro residents have donated $28,838 this year, nearly a third of the area's $92,902 total.

Rehoboth, with $10,600 donated this year, has now joined Norton ($12,400) as the only other town to donate in the five figures. The other communities' totals range from $8,650 in Norfolk down to $2,550 in Seekonk.

TED NESI can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0434.