he was significantly behind Obama and Clinton (although he did have pretty decent numbers) and is trying to establish the narrative of "the three campaigns", when he's really still trying to play catch up.

Nobody in the Dem Primary needs the kind of money that Hillary and Obama have.  They'll barely spend any of it.  Most of the cash they get is going for AFTER the primary.  Edwards got more than he said he'd need to win this race, and he's got a lot of smart people on his team.

Money doesn't mean anything.  George Allen and Harris Miller both had a hell of a lot more of it than Webb.  Look how that turned out.

Here are some numbers for money attributed to the primary, that is money that can be spent all the way up until the convention.

Obama: $23.5 Million from 100,000 Donors
Clinton: $20 Million from 50,000 Donors
Edwards: $13 Million from 40,000 Donors

And with what is now pretty much a National Primary on Feb 5th with 12 states including NY, Cali and TX, that large amount of cash on hand is going to be huge to be able to compete in all those states at the same time.

Might not be a deal breaker, but to say money doesn't matter is just not correct.

..but its certainly not a deal breaker and I know personally the Edwards camp feels good about where they stand. What matters more so than money is having a great message of real policy positions (only one in the race with that going for them) and a great team on the ground in the states that matter. Thats why John has consistently been atop and/or gaining in the Iowa/NH polls.
To count Johnny out because he doesn't have the mega-mega bucks would be a big mistake.

I'd also like to point out that Hillary's numbers, while fantastic, stand out in the fact that she had so few donors-to-cash. Looks like she may have hit up single ask contributors early on, and have trouble keeping up that pace as the race moves forward.