Obama: Spending like a drunken sailor

That $51 million he raised last month? It still wasn't enough to cover the monthly expenses of his "large field operation".

The campaign said it ended the month with $65.8 million in cash, about $5 million less than it reported on hand June 30, excluding debt. That suggests the campaign's spending more than doubled month to month, to nearly $56 million in July from $25.7 million in June. Sen. McCain also spent more than he took in: He ended July with about $4 million less on hand. But his monthly spending remained steady in July at about $31 million.

And he's still losing ground in the polls.

The Pew poll, with a 2.5-percentage-point margin of error, found 46 percent of the voters surveyed favored or leaned toward Mr. Obama, while 43 percent supported his Republican opponent - a near tie. That was in sharp contrast to the same group's poll in June, which showed Mr. Obama with a comfortable eight-point lead over Mr. McCain, 48 percent to 40 percent.

The Gallup Poll's daily tracking survey also reported Friday that the race is a tie, 44 percent to 44 percent, with Mr. Obama slipping from his 47 percent average over the past week. Gallup said, "The closer margin seen in today's results is due more to movement away from Obama than toward McCain."