Obama and McCain raised about the same amount of money in May? Obama may actually have less cash on hand that McCain? Jaw-dropping numbers, although Team Obama was bragging that they could have $100 million in June alone. So maybe it was one slow month. Still, Hillary’s got $22 million in debt to deal with, the Denver Convention is running short on funds… maybe the Democratic side isn’t as awash in money as we’ve come to expect this cycle.

I still contend that whoever wins the presidential race, we will not be saying in mid-November that “he won because he was a better fund-raiser.” But a smart righty blogger told me recently that with a half a billion in private funds, Obama really can run a fifty-state campaign, and help a lot of Democrats down-ticket who might not otherwise be competitive. If nothing else, it guarantees that they’ll be in position to take advantage of any flukes — like the seats of DeLay and Foley back in 2006.

Other point – DNC fund-raising is way, way behind RNC, and once you put those totals next to the candidates’, McCain’s in fine shape. Intriguing theory: Democratic donors don’t trust Howard Dean to spend it wisely.