Faced with a spending cap for his fall campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is aggressively spending more money than he is raising during summer months and methodically reducing his cash reserves. McCain raised more than $21 million in June and spent nearly $26 million, the campaign reported Friday night. McCain eroded his cash on hand, ending the month with $27 million in the bank. He began the month with $31.6 million in hand. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, McCain spent more than $16 million on advertising during the month, about three-quarters of his total raised in June. That was five times more than he spent in May, when the Democratic presidential primary was still being contested by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3. McCain plans to accept public financing for the general election _ an $84 million infusion that prevents him from raising private money for his fall campaign. That means he has to spend all the money he raises between now and the Republican national convention in early September. Obama has decided to bypass the public finance system and raise his own money for the fall. "Our strategy is that we will pay down all our primary funds toward the end of August to the point where we we'll have no more primary funds available," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said last week. "Up to this point we have been accumulating capital; now we will start spending down that capital." Obama has not yet filed his June report with the Federal Election Commission. It is due at midnight Sunday. But Obama announced this week that he raised $52 million in June, more than twice what McCain raised. Overall, Obama has raised about $340 million to McCain's nearly $140 million. McCain's campaign announced his fundraising and cash on hand figures last week. But his FEC report offered more details about the nature of his spending and his fundraising. McCain increased his spending on payroll in June by 9 percent to nearly three-quarters of a million dollars a month. The campaign has been expanding its presence in some states. Overall, McCain's spending, more than twice what he spent in May, exceeded his fundraising in June by more than $4 million. Continued... |