Candidates Announce July Fundraising Numbers

Barack Obama raised $51 milliion in July and had $66 million cash on hand at the end of July. John McCain took in $27 million in July and had $21 million in the bank at the start of August. McCain's burn rate is much higher than his fundraising rate because he is required by law to spend all the money he raised for the primary during the primary season (which ends the day he becomes the official candidate, Sept. 4). At that point he gets about $84 million from the government, because he has elected to accept public financing. When the DNC and RNC bank balances are added in, the two candidates are at parity, each with about $95 million.

Joint Obama-McCain Appearance at California Megachurch

Barack Obama and John McCain made a rare joint appearance at Rich Warren's huge Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA yesterday. Warren quized each candidate separately about faith, marriage, and evil. When Obama was asked to name his greatest moral failing he cited his drug use as a teenager. When McCain was asked he cited the failure of his first marriage but added President Bush's call for the country to go shopping after Sept. 11 as a moral failure (but conveniently not his). Obama used the event to emphasize over and over that he is a Christian--in part to counter a below-the-radar campaign by some Republican operatives claiming he is a Muslim. When asked when a baby gets human rights. McCain said "at the moment of conception." Obama said the question was "above my pay grade."

When Warren, who has had a long history of preaching about our need to help the poor, asked Obama what his definition of "rich" was, Obama quipped: If you sell 25 million books (which Warren has done), you qualify. McCain said anyone making $5 million a year was rich. That may come back to haunt him in Democratic attack ads that say: "John McCain thinks that if you are making only $4 million a year you're not rich, you're just an ordinary hardworking American." By making a joke, Obama demonstrated his ability to think quickly and not say things that could boomerang. McCain tends to speak his mind (like his remark that being in Iraq for 100 years was OK with him) and some of these quotes provide fodder to the other side.

Today's Polls

We have only one presidential poll today, but it is an important one. In Colorado, John McCain is leading Barack Obama slightly, 44% to 41%. This is the second straight poll showing McCain ahead. A large part of Obama's campaign has focused on winning red states, starting with Colorado, where he had been leading all year. If McCain is making a comeback here, that is a good sign for him.

An Ivan Moore poll in Alaska shows Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) crushing his two primary opponents: Stevens 63%, Cuddy 20%, Vickers 7%. This is good news for the Democrats and bad news for the Republicans since Stevens, who is under indictment, is polling very badly against Democrat Mark Begich in head-to-head matchups for the general election. The Republicans' best hope is that Stevens wins the primary and then drops out so the Alaska Republican Party can choose an untainted candidate.

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