The McCain campaign just released its July fundraising figure; it raised $27 million for the best month since becoming the presumptive nominee. This money must all be spent before receiving public financing in early September.
John McCain and the Republican National Committee started August with a hefty $96 million, financially flush and strongly positioned to compete with prolific fundraiser Barack Obama and the Democrats.
Republicans have been trying to even out the financial playing field after trailing Democrats in overall fundraising for most of the election cycle.
McCain has been a subpar fundraiser and has lagged the much-more adept Obama in monthly campaign tallies. But the RNC, with big-draw President Bush helping, has trounced its Democratic counterpart in collections. That has helped McCain and the GOP stay competitive financially with Obama and the Democratic National Committee.
The July numbers reflect how far McCain and the Republicans have come.
It's also worth emphasizing the McCain campaign is making good use of the money it has. Though Obama ended up buying some additional airtime during the Olympic games, catching up with the $6 million the McCain had bought, there will still be many more McCain ads during the Olympics. Unlike the Obama campaign, which boughts its airtime the second it became available, the McCain campaign waited until prices dropped. That's why for the same amount of money, it has choice times and more spots.
