Obama outshines McCain, raises $52 mn for campaign

“But more impressive than the number is how you did it,” Plouffe wrote.

“Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people contributed to building our campaign for change. Many were first-time donors, giving only what they could afford — and the average donation was just $68.”

The June figure was just shy of Obama’s best fundraising month in February when he took in $55 million. His fundraising slowed to $21.9 million in May, down from just over $30 million in April.

But Plouffe said that McCain and the Republican National Committee still have a huge cash advantage, with nearly $100 million in the bank at the end of June.

“We have developed a strategy — a very aggressive strategy — that will only work if our millions of supporters continue to contribute their time and their money,” Plouffe wrote.

Some political analysts had questioned whether Obama’s fundraising ability had ebbed, since his monthly numbers had been dropping.

But last week a top aide refuted a Wall Street Journal article that quoted people close to the Obama campaign as saying his total contributions in June would likely be just over $30 million.

Obama has smashed all records for fundraising during the long presidential campaign, partly because of his success in using the Internet to bring in contributions from small donors.

He has said he would bypass the public financing system, rejecting $84 million in public funds and the accompanying limits on spending.