You’d think we were watching a horse race the way the media is reporting on campaign fundraising. But of course that’s because the horse race metaphor is easy to understand and easier still to report on.

But NBC’s First Read makes some important points that involve more nuanced analysis and some actual THINKING to get to the heart of the matter:

We want to make an additional point about the money race: Way too many people are jumping to conclusions right now. What appears to be going on is that Romney — since becoming his party’s presumptive presidential nominee — is grabbing the big checks from his party (up to $75,000 per donor that goes to the campaign, RNC, and victory fund). If he can keep up this pace in July and August, then we know he has a financial juggernaut on his hands. But if the pace slows down, then you know that his campaign has picked all the low-hanging fundraising fruit.”

Another thing to keep in mind: While the Romney camp controls the RNC and victory-fund money, there are strings attached to those dollars. (For example: In this presidential contest, coordinated party expenditures are limited to $21.7 million.) And here’s one other point to make: It’s likely that Obama’s June campaign-only haul isn’t far off from the $54 million it raised in June ’08.”

Those comparisons for the remaining months will be important. Both campaigns are pursuing DIFFERENT financial strategies. Team Obama is going for maximum spending FLEXIBILITY and because they didn’t have to spend primary money on a primary, they have that luxury. Team Romney is looking for maximum fundraising capacity, but it comes with more strings on how much of the money they are raising can be spent on TV advertising.