June 21 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain, who was outraised by a 2-1 margin by Barack Obama during the presidential primaries, entered June with almost as much money as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

When combined with the Republican National Committee's bank balance, McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had more money to spend than Obama during the three months leading up to the national party conventions.

McCain, an Arizona senator, had $31.6 million as of May 31, compared with $33.3 million for Obama, Federal Election Commission records show. The RNC had $53.5 million to just under $4 million for the Democrats. The party committees act as shadow campaigns, concentrating their efforts on backing the presidential candidates.

Obama, 46, and Democratic fundraisers have turned their attention to filling the DNC's coffers now that the Illinois senator has secured the party's nomination. A fundraiser at Ethel Kennedy's Hickory Hill estate in Virginia earlier this week netted close to $6 million, and a May 31 event in New York City headlined by former Vice President Al Gore brought in around $1 million more.

``There are going to be lots of people who are going to come now to help the DNC,'' said Clay Constantinou, a former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg who raised more than $1 million for Democrat John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Obama, Clinton

Still to be determined is what help, if any, Obama will provide to assist his vanquished Democratic rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, pay off her campaign debts. She lent her campaign $2.2 million last month, bringing her total loans to $12.2 million, and owed another $10.3 million to vendors and consultants, including $4.6 million to former chief strategist Mark Penn.

Obama raised $21.2 million in May for the pre-convention period, bringing his total to $277 million, the most ever by any candidate for president. President George W. Bush raised $262 million for his 2004 re-election campaign. Obama also raised close to $700,000 for the general election, bringing that total to $9.9 million, campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

Though Obama does not take donations from registered lobbyists, he did receive $19,558 from employees of ex-Greenberg Traurig LLP, which once employed imprisoned Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Greenberg Traurig represents such companies as General Motors Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc. on Capitol Hill. Obama also received $16,146 from Microsoft Corp. employees and $14,472 from International Business Machines Corp. employees.

Last Month

Obama spent $26.8 million last month, bringing his total to $252.4 million.

McCain, 71, had his biggest fundraising period last month, raising $20.9 million and bringing his total to $121 million, plus $1 million from his Senate account. That is the second-most ever raised by a Republican candidate, trailing only Bush in 2004. He spent $11.7 million in May, and has now spent $90.3 million for his campaign.

Employees of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. gave $10,125 and employees of Morgan Stanley donated $9,170 to McCain. Merrill employees gave $9,166 and Morgan Stanley employees gave $11,994 to Obama.

Obama said Thursday that he wouldn't take federal financing for the general election, becoming the first major-party candidate to reject such funding since the post-Watergate law took effect for the 1976 election.

McCain said he would take the $84.1 million in taxpayer money and forgo fundraising for the general election, other than for legal and accounting costs. McCain raised $2.2 million for those expenditures last month.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 21, 2008 00:06 EDT