Senator Barack Obama significantly outspent Senator John McCain in August as the two campaigns ramped up their general election fight, with the Obama campaign spending $53 million that month, $32 million of which went to advertising. That compared with the $41 million spent by the McCain campaign, $23 million of which went to advertising.

There is no evidence to show that the donations to the Liberal Party influenced any decision making by then-Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone or encouraged any of the politicians to contact her about the case. But the revelations raise questions about the appropriateness of political parties accepting certain donations.

If both parties can come to agreement it raises the prospect of a bipartisan report that for the first time in the country’s history recommends the introduction of legislatively mandated caps on campaign spending. The model that has committee members most interested is the “cap and gap” system used in Canada.

Senator Obama is the first presidential candidate to shun public financing, confident that he can keep reeling in small and large donations from his army of givers, which now numbers more than 2.5 million people. Obama has more than $US77 million in cash on hand, according to aides, and will seek to press home his advantage.

Opinion polls have shown the Clark Government trailing the main opposition National Party for several months, although the gap narrowed to 6.5 percentage points at the start of September. The announcement came amidst a scandal involving political donations to Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party.

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are confronting a sharply abbreviated general election campaign season, the product of the late nominating conventions and a boom in early voting in tightly contested states. This shortened timetable is forcing both campaigns to recalibrate the pace of television advertisements, accelerate voter turnout operations and tailor the candidates’ traveling schedules to accommodate states where voting is imminent.

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain each cite the mess at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a consequence of the corrosive coziness of lobbyists and politicians that they promise to end. But each man and his party also have ties to the fallen giants that will complicate the next president’s job of reshaping the mortgage finance companies that have been essential to the economy. And neither man has a record of directly challenging the companies they now criticize.

The signs of concern in the Democratic Party have become evident in recent weeks as early fund-raising totals have suggested that Senator Barack Obama’s decision to bypass public financing may not necessarily afford him the commanding financing advantage over Senator John McCain that many had originally predicted.

The Western Australian Labor Party received $2000 four years ago from a Sydney businessman and property developer convicted of conspiring to supply over $100,000 worth of drugs - raising fresh questions about political donations. Electoral records show the donation was made to the WA Labor Party in the 2004-05 financial year.

Tensions between Senator Clinton’s supporters and Senator Obama’s campaign are high, particularly in the wake of revelations that Mr. Obama did not vet Mrs. Clinton or ask her advice on his vice-presidential pick. Many major Clinton fund-raisers skipped the convention; others are leaving before Mr. Obama’s speech.