McCain campaign says it raised $27 million in July
It is McCain's best fundraising month since becoming the likely GOP nominee for president.
WASHINGTON — The John McCain campaign today reported its best fundraising month since the Arizona senator became the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee.
McCain raised $27 million last month, the fifth consecutive month in which contributions have increased, campaign manager Rick Davis said in a morning conference call. The Republican National Committee reported it had raised another $25.8 million, giving it a total of $71.5 million.
Republicans have been lagging behind in raising money when compared with the Democrats and their likely nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who built a cash juggernaut using the Internet.
The latest GOP numbers show that Republicans are warming up to the McCain campaign, Davis said.
"It indicates to us that our fundraising continues to be very healthy," he said.
McCain had $21.4 million in ready cash at the end of July, Davis said, but fundraising by the Republican National Committee and other groups means McCain and his GOP supporters can draw on more than $100 million to wage battle against Obama.
Under federal campaign financing rules, McCain cannot spend money he has raised during the primary season after Aug. 31, so the campaign will "exhaust those funds" this month. "So we'll be spending much more than we've been raising," he said.
After McCain accepts the party's nomination in St. Paul, Minn., in the first week of September, his campaign will get an infusion of $100 million in federal funds, "so we'll start the general election campaign fully flush," Davis said.
The McCain campaign said it now has 600,000 donors, and in a posting on its website, the Republican National Committee announced it had reached 1 million donors. The Obama campaign has said it has passed the 2-million-donor mark.
Unlike McCain, Obama has rejected public financing. Experts have been predicting that each side will spend upward of $400 million on the general election.
Overall, Davis said, McCain "has seen a significant uptick" in support in the last two months, a period when McCain became far more aggressive on the stump.
"That's gotten people excited," Davis said.
Polls show that McCain has scored points with voters with his energy policy, particularly his call for more off-shore drilling for oil. In recent days, McCain has also stressed foreign policy, an area in which polls show he has edge.
