Obama gets June fundraising boost

Mr Obama's best fundraising month was February, when he took in $55m

Democratic US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign has announced that it raised $52m (£26m) in June.

The figure makes June the second-best fundraising month for Mr Obama since he began his bid for the White House.

His Republican rival John McCain's campaign raised $22m over the same period, his biggest monthly total so far in the campaign.

When contributions to central party committees are included, the candidates have similar amounts of cash on hand.

Mr Obama's best fundraising month was February, when he received a record $55m.

Since then, his monthly totals had been decreasing, with $41m raised in March, $31m in April, and $22m in May.

JUNE FUNDRAISING Barack Obama: $52m John McCain: $22m DNC: $22.4m RNC: $26m Combined Obama and DNC: $92m cash on hand at beginning of July Combined McCain and RNC: $95m cash on hand at beginning of July

Last month, Mr Obama announced that he would be rejecting public funds for his campaign.

If he had taken federal money, he would have been obliged to forgo all private contributions.

Although Mr Obama has been raising more money than Mr McCain, Mr McCain's campaign has been buoyed by a strong fundraising performance from the Republican National Committee (RNC), which is able to advertise on his behalf.

The RNC has been raising a lot more cash than its Democratic counterpart, the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The DNC has revealed that it raised $22.4m in June, which - although it is a big improvement on the May total of $4.7m, is still less than the RNC's June haul of $26m.

The Obama campaign said its June fundraising total, together with the DNC's money, allowed Mr Obama to begin July with some $92m cash on hand, while the combined figure for Mr McCain and the RNC was $95m.