McCain's donors hail from real estate, investment and law firms, and a mix of telecommunications, oil and other companies. Employees of the Irvine Co., the Orange County developer, were McCain's largest source, at $66,601.
Some of these donors have big hopes for the next administration. A few may become ambassadors; others may see their law partners become judges. Many work in industries that have major interests in Washington, D.C., and will expect access to the next administration.
Many are like William Bloomfield and Jamie Alter Lynton -- true believers.
Neither Bloomfield nor Lynton is sure how much they've raised for their respective candidates. They haven't kept track. Certainly, each raised hundreds of thousands.
Lynton, whose husband, Michael, is chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, comes from a politically active family and used to work for CNN. But until Obama came on the scene, she had never gotten so deeply involved in a campaign.
She helped put on perhaps 10 fundraisers for the Illinois senator and spent 30 hours a week volunteering for Obama, a candidate she believes is transforming politics and, she hopes, the nation's reputation in the world.
"Barack Obama asked me to do something for my country. No one had ever asked," Lynton said. "He said, 'We can do this together.' It was an immediate wake-up call. He said there is a path to make this world better, and make this country a better place."
Bloomfield is every bit as passionate for McCain. He had been a modest donor in past elections. But he had never gone all-in for a candidate, until now.
He sold his business -- he provided washing machines and dryers to apartments and colleges in the Western United States -- and moved from Manhattan Beach to Arlington, Va., where McCain has his headquarters.
Now he volunteers full time for McCain, a man he believes could be this century's Abraham Lincoln.
"That is heady stuff for someone who has been in the laundry business," Bloomfield said. He'd do it all over again, "in a heartbeat. It's the best thing I've ever done."
The scores of financial reports that the campaigns have filed with the Federal Election Commission also offer a measure of the candidates' appeal.
Obama's attraction to young voters is evident in his fundraising. He raised $820,000 from Californians who described themselves as students, to McCain's $56,000.
