McCain gets rich off Democrats' fight

Hillary Clinton is bleeding away Barack Obama's financial advantage over presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, new fund-raising figures show.

Obama's bitter battle with Clinton - including the skirmish fought last month in Pennsylvania's expensive media markets - has enabled McCain to narrow the cash gap with Obama, his likely general election foe.
Team Obama reported to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday night that the likely Democratic nominee has $46.5 million left in the bank after having blown through nearly $219 million to fend off Clinton's never-say-die candidacy.

At the same time, McCain has doubled the cash stash he had at the beginning of April.

The Arizona senator now has nearly $22 million in the bank, the federal fund-raising records reveal.

That means McCain has whittled Obama's financial advantage from nearly 5 to 1 at the start of April to slightly more than 2 to 1 at the start of May.

McCain knocked off his last major primary foe, Mike Huckabee, in March. He has been able to stockpile funds ever since.

With the GOP rallying behind him, McCain raked in more than $18.5 million in April, his biggest one-month haul to date. He spent only about $8.4 million last month.

Clinton raised about $22 million over the same stretch, including $10 million in the 24 hours after defeating Obama in Pennsylvania.

She also pitched in $5 million of her own loot to keep her White House hopes afloat, the second time she's loaned cash to her campaign.

Clinton entered May with $30 million in her campaign coffers, but carrying nearly $20 million in debt - owing $10 million to herself and nearly $5 million to ousted chief strategist Mark Penn.

The reports also show Rudy Giuliani loaned $500,000 of his own money to his failed presidential bid. It may not be the last time: His campaign still owes $3.6 million to scores of vendors.

But the ex-mayor is getting a little help from McCain, who apparently is under the impression that Giuliani's endorsement was worth at least $47,878.

That's how much McCain's campaign paid to reimburse Giuliani for flying out to California in a private 727 on Jan.30, when Giuliani simultaneously bowed out of the race and threw his support behind McCain's candidacy.