U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama raked in 52 million U.S. dollars in June, more than double the June take for his Republican rival John McCain, who had his best month of the year, CNN reported Thursday.

  US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) makes a foreign policy speech on Iraq and American National Security in Washington, July 15, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, now have a combined 72 million dollars "cash on hand," the term used to describe how much money they currently have to spend, it said.

McCain raised 22 million dollars in June, and together with the Republican National Committee, or RNC, began July with about 95 million dollars "cash on hand."

In a fundraising e-mail to supporters, Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe acknowledged the gap, saying that "McCain and the RNC together still have a huge cash advantage, and we need your help to close the gap."

Early this month, Obama changed course to use public financing for his campaign, while his counterpart is accepting federal funds.

McCain has already said that he would accept public financing for his campaign, which capped his spending between the Republican convention in early September and election day, Nov. 4, at about 85 million dollars

But according to estimates, Obama is able to raise as twice as much for the general election.

However, with the strong fund-raising ability of RNC, Obama's cash advantage against McCain will be weakened.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)