Obama counts on 2 million

Reaches milestone in the number of individual donors

Barack Obama's campaign announced yesterday that it has reached another milestone in its record-smashing fund-raising - 2 million individual donors, believed to be by far the most contributors amassed by any presidential candidate.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, harnessing the power of the Internet like no candidate before him, brought in about $340 million by the end of June, compared with about $145 million for Republican rival John McCain.

"It's a positive sign that more people are getting involved in something that for so long has been the province of the very wealthy elite few," said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money.

Obama's campaign frequently highlights the thousands of small-dollar donors. "Today we achieved something amazing - 2,000,000 donors owning a piece of this campaign," a message said yesterday on Obama's contributor website. "In the face of John McCain's low road tactics, it's more important than ever to keep our movement growing and show the power of millions of grassroots supporters coming together to work for change."

The center notes, however, that half of Obama's haul has come from people giving at least $200, and the McCain campaign has often noted that Obama is receiving a significant number of contributions of more than $1,000 even as he emphasizes the small donations.

Because Obama is bypassing public financing - while McCain will accept about $84 million in public money for the fall campaign - Obama will need to keep up the pace by bringing in new donors or by persuading existing ones to give more.

Ritsch noted that while Obama's 2 million donors represent less than 1 percent of the population, about 9 percent of taxpayers check off their federal income tax forms to fund the public financing system, meaning that McCain will be drawing from a bigger population pool.

McCain sent a fresh fund-raising appeal to his supporters yesterday, saying he needs money to spend before Labor Day. After that, because he is accepting public funding, he will not be able to spend privately donated funds.

"I am ready to lead our country as president but I won't win without your support," he wrote. "Beginning September 1st, we will be limited in the amount of money we can spend in this election and Senator Obama will be able to spend whatever he wants to defeat me."

Also yesterday, the staff of the Federal Election Commission recommended that the agency's board approve McCain's withdrawal from the public financing during the primaries.

When his campaign was broke last year, McCain applied for public financing, which would have limited his spending. But after he won the New Hampshire primary, his fund-raising increased dramatically and he pulled out of public financing. Democrats had accused McCain of using the promise of federal money as collateral for $4 million in loans he received.