The warchest of John McCain (R-AZ) is expected to show $22M in June income, while Barack Obama (D-IL) is expected to announce income for the month of about $30M. McCain aides are saying that between the candidate’s own cash and help from the RNC, its ability to wage an air war may be on an equal footing with Obama throughout the remainder of the election campaign. One of the newspapers looking into this was the Wall Street Journal, however, and Obama staffers characterized its estimate of Obama’s June take as “way off.”
One thing is certain however, and that is that spending on the general election is way behind the pace for 2004, due in large part to the extended primary on the Democratic side. An early anomaly on that count is the fact that McCain has thus far spent more money on the general, although Obama is said to be catching up quickly.
According to WSJ, by this time in 2004 Bush, Kerry and independent groups had already spent $176M; thus far in 2008 the total hasn’t yet topped $40M.
