Donations rolling in for McCain

"We're unified and that's why we have had the results," said RNC Chairman Mike Duncan.

Since the start of 2007, the Republican National Committee has outraised its Democratic counterpart by two to one, $143 million to $77 million.

The Democratic Party has been hamstrung in part by the primary fight between Obama and Clinton. Unlike McCain, who has installed some top advisors at the RNC, Democrats have not yet embarked on major joint fundraising efforts with the party, though former Vice President Al Gore has begun helping raise party money.

Obama has been raising money at a pace of more than $1 million a day. Increasingly, he relies on the Internet to tap large numbers of small-dollar donors.

According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute in Washington, about 63% of McCain's money comes in checks of $1,000 or more; about 34% of Obama's does. Obama has tapped 1.5 million donors. If he wins the nomination, he can return to these small-dollar donors to ask for more money.

"McCain doesn't have the kind of low-donor fundraising base that can be self-sustaining," said Michael J. Malbin, the institute's executive director.

McCain probably will accept federal tax money to help run his general-election campaign. The federal check of $84 million would equate to about $1 million a day for the fall campaign -- plus whatever the party spends on his behalf.

If McCain relies too much on the party's money, though, he can expect Democrats to use that to undermine his reputation as a maverick. As California Democratic consultant Garry South put it: He's "dining with fat cats at $86,000 a gulp."

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dan.morain@latimes.com

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Times researcher Maloy Moore and data analyst Sandra Poindexter contributed to this report.