John McCain raised $21.5 million in May

Our colleague Dan Morain passes along word that John McCain raised $21.5 million in May, by far his  best fundraising month. The campaign spent $11.6 million the same month, and had $1.27 million in outstanding bills. He took in $1.5 million from other politicians and political action committees, and raised $4.26 million in concert with the Republican Party. McCain ended the month with $31.5 million in the bank, an increase of $10 million from the prior month.

As impressive as that fundraising is, it likely will be far short of the numbers Barack Obama is expected to announce later today.  Obama averaged about $40 million a month in February, March and April as he fought with Hillary Clinton over the Democratic nomination -- a battle that continued through May.

The most interesting numbers won't be known for a while: how much Obama will be able to raise now that the nomination is his, and as he works to try to unify the fractured -- and fractious -- Democrats behind him.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[Kevin]

I don't care about Obama's name, his skin color, or his wife's attitude (sparkling endorsement from the political thinktank at The View notwithstanding). Bottom line: unless you're one of the frothing Obamanauts well represented in this very comment thread, nothing and no one will convince you that this was not a 100% political and opportunistic scummy thing to do. From the candidate that preaches change, new thinking and several other tired buzzphrases.

Do the Republicans have attack groups with private funding ready to go? Of course. So do the Democrats. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't try to justify and spin an action you would visciously lambast if someone else did it by claiming "this is different, this is a Grass Roots Movement (tm), these donations are the voice of the people". Don't try to redefine special interests to suit your needs.

The primary goal of campaign finance reform is to make sure candidates aren't funded by and indebted to certain segments of the population while claiming to represent all of them... but a secondary goal is to try to prevent the presidential winner from being the guy who airs the most commercials. The only people who vote based on what they saw on TV ads are MORONS, and this candidate has openly admitted he thinks targeting those morons is a key to his campaign and worth going back on his word.

He's right about one thing.. the problem can't be fixed by reforming capaign finance.... the morons will still be allowed to vote.

[soupyet]

Correction Kennedy did vote no for use of armed forces in Iraq but Kerry voted yes as did Edwards (NC).......and most of Obama supporters.

A vote for Obama is a vote to discard equal rights.

[Mr.Truth]

McBain will loose anyway. The bigots are loosing ground as more people become educated and have their eyes washed through reality. If you don't work for Halliburton or in the weapons industry, you should want all remnants of this administration to dissipate completely. We are headed for unseen economic turmoil and all you negative nimrods, care about is a name and a color. The republican mind is so small...

[Pat Riot]

Soupyet:

Never let facts get in the way of a good story. We have a budding journalist on our hands!

[Steve]

I am so sick of all the Obama-hating! Once he, and the democratically controlled congress, are able take control of our economy things will get so much better. 4$ for a gallon of gas? It isn't fair that ordinary Americans have to keep making these greedy oil executives rich while we can't even afford to fill our gas tanks. I would like to see government get their hands on the windfall profits of the oil industry and do some good with it.

[Michael Beckett]

There are many Middle Class Whites that are not millionaires who who hard every day of there lives. The Democrat Leardership in this Country has been scamming the minorites for years and this includes Barack the biggest scam aritest next to the Clinton's.....who's the real sucker and bigottttt.

Please don't compare me to your liberal billionares. It nice that they want to pay more taxes, but I pay my share.

BTW, it they want me to go "green" maybe the Democrat Lead Congress can buy my car lease and I will buy a car that gets 50 miles a gallon. They are doing for this for homeowners in the mortgage crisis.....why not me

[Daniel]

I love the fear-mongering comments here, especially soupyet, and Jimmie Beck.

"I know the young Obamabots think they are responsible for the great monies but the fact is most of his money is from large donors and my guess is that when someone sends $30.00.......Obama adds money from illegals and records it as $2300.00. This guy is as sleazy as they come."

Big problem with that suggestion, soupyet. Big problem.

If Obama had done that, I wouldn't have been able to donate the $200 I've donated to his primary and election campaigns, because I didn't donate it in one lump. It was $20 here, and $30 there. If I he were indeed doing as you say, then your allegations would've blown wide in the news.

And Kevin, while Obama choosing to just fund raise left and right and not take the public funding means he'll have a lot more to throw around, you can bet that there's a $500 million slush with the RNC and their 527's just waiting to lash out at Obama in favor of McCain.

And thanks for referring to all 300 million American citizens as Morons. I have a book suggestion for you...it's called "How to win friends and influence people." You need some polish in that area.

[Bob Dob]

Obamanaut?? Wow, you had me at Obamabot :) I think I'll start printing t-shirts with these "names", so the other brain-washed elitists can buy them. There's something to be said for evolution after all...

[Steve]

People in America think they are "free"? Being controlled by a bunch of greedy corporations IS NOT freedom. Look at Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Vladimir Putin in Russia. They have nationalized their energy industries and done so much good for their ordinary citizens and not continued to line the pockets of the business elite.

Vote for CHANGE! Obama 08

[Paul]

There are all kinds of things that everyone can say about each campaign. The best that anyone can do is research each one to the best of there ability and find more than one source to get your facts from. Then once you have all the information you can get then all you have to do is try and pick the one that you think is LYING the least. I am in the Army and the most important issue to me is will the next President put and end to IRAQ. Unfortunatly noone will know until then.

[Derek]

Obama has made it clear how he intends to tax and spend. How can anyone say otherwise? His plan is to enact the largest tax increase in history, hitting hardest those who happen to have higher incomes. He likes to say how these "rich" people need to pay their fair share. But what is fair? These "rich" people work just as hard as everyone else, and in most cases, they work longer hours. Is it fair to tax these people simply for working harder than you? And nevermind the fact that Obama makes no adjustment to the taxing of income where people who live in more expensive areas of the country have higher incomes simply because the cost of living is higher. For example, as compared to workers in less expensive areas of the country, New York workers devote a higher percentage of their income to covering basic living expenses. These so-called "rich" are not rich at all--they are simply covering their more expensive cost of living. Yet, Obama would have you belive that they should be paying more money, paying higher taxes. Fair? Not really. . . People need to understand the details of Obama's plan. They need to question the logic and avoid getting swept up in his rhetoric.

[mike moon]

jimmie w becks comment may have been over the top, but i didn't notice it being bigoted, as the next comment implied.

dayrl n, who is most likely a democrat and seems to also look at politics as a team sport, was the first to bring up BLACK MAN in the commnents.

it sounds like the supporters are making race an issue, not the detractors.

btw, i am neither strongly against or for obama. i would NEVER vote for mccain though, and i'm a republican (though i was a democrat for a long time).

the comment about millionaires/suckers was great btw. one would have to be a sucker to vote for mccain, who IS just another big-spending, lax on corperations, fence-riding RINO.

there is another element to the republican party, from the country. country folk just want to be left alone. i certainly don't mind if the federal government fills the role of regulating multinationals that pollute and ravage our resources and take the profits back home. just leave ME alone!

[Mr.Truth]

They are about eliminating the middle class. Create an elite class and the rest will have to beg for scraps.
Where did my Democratic Party go, why did it leave me?
Posted by: XDEM..

i'm no Dem and neither are you..That's Republican crap coming out of you..you republicans are so small minded and you think everybody else is.. Bush was good to you huh??? voting against your own interest.amazing !!!!

[Daniel]

Derek,

I suggest you visit sites like Politifact or others that review from a non-biased perspective. Obama's "largest tax cut since WWII" is just spin by the McCain camp, and likely won't affect you, me or any other American below the $250k bracket.

As for your claims, I'd like to see figures to back them up. I know a number of rich folks in the DC area who certainly don't work the 50 and 60 hour weeks that some of the poorer Americans work.

[soupyet]

NICK: This is from an article March 10, 2008.

"Obama bought a mock Georgian mansion on Chicago's Soutfi side on June 15, 2005, the same day Rezko's wife bought a plot next door from the same seller. Obama then purchased from Rezko another parcel at above-market value. Federal prosecutors recently revealed that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi billionaire who lives in London, wired $3.5 million to the financially strapped Rezko in Chicago less than a month before the Obama-Rezko purchases. James Bone, investigative reporter for the Times of London, wrote last month that "the money transfer raises the question of whether funds" from Auchi "helped" Obama buy his house."

Monies for a house are connected to Iraqi billionaire..............I am sure the campaign monies at the rate he has been getting it are also from overseas. It makes logical sense that since Hilary was getting the popular vote that her campaign monies should have been about the same as Obama's but she raised about 190 million to his 272 million..................something does not smell right and when we know about the house moniey it is easy to see that some of his money is coming from outside the USA.

[Steve]

You tell him Mr. Truth! I am so sick of the republican/big business controlled media. I think Obama and the new left wing are ready for a revolution. With state controlled oil revenues, we can finally take America back for the people! Bush's stupid war and evil oil companies have wreaked enough havoc on our economy. Standard of living is lower than any point since the great depression and it is all because of Bush and the republicans and big corporations.

OBAMA 08

[mike moon]

steve, i have a feeling gas is going to keep going up. yes, oil complanies are pulling in record profits, it's a good market to be in right now. you have to remember that the market for oil is exploding right now, as countries like india and china move into the mainstream of consumerism.

oil companies only earn a small margin compared to banks. blame the financial world if you want to find a reason for the price of gas.

the speculation and trading of oil is what's driven its price out of control. combine that with the systematic devaluation of our currency by the federal reserve and you begin to see you money literally become worthless.

just try and travel outside of the united states now. canada's dollar's worth the same as ours, the pound is worth 2 dollars and the euro's over $1.50. at least we can still go to mexico! ( a peso's worth about 10 cents)

[Dex Polizzi]

I wanted to throw a question out to everyone... Is it possible that Obama decided not to use public money for his campaign because he thought that the public money made available to him is better suited to be used in other ways? Perhaps he is doing America a favors and saving some of the nation's money, substituting it with private funds?

[DeLaNate]

The best thing that anyone can do is not let comments from a blog sway your vote in any way. Please research the candidates yourself and make an smart and educated vote based on your beliefs and not those of someone on a blog that is just spouting out incorrect facts and opinions. Obama is a good man and his wife is a good woman.... McCain is a good man and his wife is a good woman. They are both good family men and love their country enough to run for president. That being said, do your research and decide for yourself.

[soupyet]

Daniel: "If Obama had done that, I wouldn't have been able to donate the $200 I've donated to his primary and election campaigns, because I didn't donate it in one lump. It was $20 here, and $30 there. If I he were indeed doing as you say, then your allegations would've blown wide in the news."

Not necessarily because there are millions of small donors and all he has to do is split the foreign monies up amonst those names that did not donate $2300.00. With all these young college kids names, he can do anything he wants.

Look where the money for his house came from: This is from an article March 10, 2008 but I'm sure you can google for more info.

"If Obama had done that, I wouldn't have been able to donate the $200 I've donated to his primary and election campaigns, because I didn't donate it in one lump. It was $20 here, and $30 there. If I he were indeed doing as you say, then your allegations would've blown wide in the news."

VOTE NOBAMA

McCain 2008 and Hillary 2012
OR WRITE IN HILLARY 2008

[Derek]

Daniel,

I have looked at those sites. There is no getting around the fact that Obama intends to enact the largest percentage tax increase in history. The numbers are what they are--there is no spin.

You ignore the main thrust of my earlier post. It remains unfair to tax individuals simply because they happen to earn more money than you. You both work 50-60 hours a week, you both contribute to society. Yet, one of you pays a higher percetage of his income in taxes.

You say you know a "number of rich folks" who don't work the 50 or 60 hour weeks. Are we talking about people who have created wealth over time, probably working 50 or 60 hour weeks earlier in their lifetime, or are we talking about people who happen to have some unique expertise that allows them to earn a high income yet work less than the average worker? The two are obviously not the same. Yet it doesn't really matter because the logic still holds true. If you extend your line of thinking, you will see that Obama's plan is simply a redistributiuon of income. Obama does nothing to existing wealth. He just makes it harder for those who are working to create wealth to ever achieve this goal. This is socialism at its finest. Make no mistake.

[robiodo]

Soupyet: If you're going to start a sentence with "I am sure...", you might include a clause later that starts with "because" and is followed by something that resembles a fact, evidence, or a statistic. Until you do, please stick with your day job as a writer for Fox and stop wasting everyone's time with your rants. If there was any evidence that Obama's contributions are from outside the USA, chances are good the "liberal media" would have published it by now.

[Skyler]

When I buy a Lottery Ticket I believe in change, the change I get is less money in my wallet.

Show me at least ONE CHANGE I can believe in that will not lighten my wallet.

[soupyet]

robiodo : "If there was any evidence that Obama's contributions are from outside the USA, chances are good the "liberal media" would have published it by now."

The foolish and trusting beliefs you have in the liberal media is exactly why you are supporting Obama. I am sorry, I am not trying to be mean but there is a reason Obama went to the young people to get his votes..........................

And it is OK because Obama has zero chance in November. You too will learn.

[Imaginary Obama]

Derek says: "Obama does nothing to existing wealth. He just makes it harder for those who are working to create wealth to ever achieve this goal. This is socialism at its finest. Make no mistake."

D-Dude, O isn't a socialist. You should educate yourself to learn the difference between Socialism and Liberalism. Mush like there is a difference between Conservatism and Fascism. There is a difference, isn't there?

But let's give you your main point: that what I want is socialism in America and socialism is bad... ergo, O is bad.

Oh dear, sweet Rethuglican... libraries, the local police and fire department and public schools are socialism as it's very best. We all pay into a system that funds community needs. Uh oh... unless you plan on arguing that there are better ways of funding those community services your argument falls as flat as your IQ score.

Thank you for playing. O, out!