Washington  - Republican John McCain, his party's nominee- apparent, had his strongest fundraising month in June, raking in 22 million dollars, USA Today reported Friday.

McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis told the newspaper that McCain entered July with 27 million dollars left in his war chest to fight the presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

The total rose to 95 million dollars when one counted funds held by the Republican National Committee, the report said.

Those sums however paled against Obama's record fund raising, with a sum of 265 million dollars raised from early 2007 to June 2008. McCain's total over the course of his campaign was about 90 million dollars to June.

The trend marks a massive turnaround from previous campaigns, where Republicans have typically had the upper hand. In 2004, Republican President George W Bush raised 220 million dollars by June 30, compared to 170 million dollars for Democratic challenger, John Kerry, whom Bush defeated. (dpa)