| | Obama brings in $66 million for August
 Breaking the monthly record for presidential campaign fundraising yet again, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama brought in $66 million for the month of August, several news agencies reported.
The Obama campaign added more than 500,000 first-time donors in August, bringing the total number of contributers to his historical bid for the presidency to 2.5 million, The Washington Post reported.
Campaign officials attribute the success to McCain's nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a choice that also brought an influx of money to John McCain, who raised $47 million in August, his last month of private fundraising and best month so far.
"John McCain says that he'll take on the special interests and lobbyists, but McCain can't fix a problem he's been part of for three decades. The 500,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to kick the special interests out and change Washington," said David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager.
Although the Obama campaign said its total cash on hand in August was $77 million, that wealth may not translate into an advantage over John McCain, Reuters reported.
Both candidates are aided by their parties and the Republican National Committee is generally more successful at gathering funds than its Democratic counterpart.
Reports indicate that the Democratic National Committee has fallen short of August fundraising goals.
Obama will seek to press home his advantage through large-scale advertising blitzes, seek to stretch McCain's limited resources across the electoral map and fire up a massive get-out-the vote effort, Agence France Presse reported.
Latest polls Sunday showed a tight race, with a slim advantage to McCain.
The Republican led by three points by 50 to 47 percent in Sunday's tracking survey by Rasmussen. Gallup's latest snapshot on Saturday had McCain up 47 percent to 45 percent.
But Obama opened up a 12 point lead in the midwestern battleground of Iowa, 52 percent to 40 percent, according to a Des Moines Register poll. The state went Republican in 2004.
Wire services contributed to this report.
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