On the heels of his trip to Baghdad, John McCain will hit the campaign trail next week in California where he’s set to deliver what aides have described as a major address on Iraq and the nation’s foreign-policy challenges abroad. He’ll speak before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council next Wednesday. But in between that and a few town halls scheduled throughout southern California, McCain is also set to do some fund-raising, with events scheduled in spots including L.A., Palm Springs and Orange County, home to some of the wealthiest Republican donors in the country. Apparently, McCain needs all the help he can get. The three remaining presidential candidates filed their latest money reports with the Federal Election Commission yesterday and, not surprisingly, McCain is lagging way behind his Democratic opponents. According to the FEC, Barack Obama raised a staggering $55.4 million in February, while Hillary Clinton brought in roughly $35 million. As for McCain … well, the Arizona senator raised just over $11 million--slightly less than what he raised in January, the month he won New Hampshire and regained his political mojo.

McCain hasn’t been shy in admitting that he won’t raise the kind of cash being put up by the Democrats. “Not even close,” McCain bluntly told reporters on his campaign plane earlier this month. But $11 million isn’t a pretty number when you remember that McCain had all but locked up the GOP nomination in February and presumably should have had some big-time momentum with GOP bigwigs who had been sitting on their checkbooks. Granted, McCain has been making up for lost time lately. He held several fund-raisers in Texas earlier this month in the days before that state’s primary and raised more than $2 million at an event at New York City’s Plaza Hotel a couple of weeks ago. That would have been huge dough in any other campaign year. But this is a presidential campaign in which Obama, according to his FEC reports, raised and spent almost $2 million a day last month and wrapped up February with $30 million in the bank. How much did McCain have as of Feb. 29? According to his FEC report, a little less than $8 million--and that was before aides say he paid off a $4 million loan his campaign took out just before the end of last year.

Of course, McCain does have some advantages. While Clinton and Obama fight it out, they’re spending gobs of cash, while McCain is able to raise money and put it toward building up his general-election campaign. As the all-but-official nominee, he’s also got the backing and resources of the Republican National Committee, which has been bringing in more cash lately than the Democratic National Committee. (While their latest reports weren't accessible on the FEC Web site this morning, the Center for Responsive Politics reports that the RNC has outraised the DNC by roughly $37 million so far this cycle.)

But McCain still needs to find a way to motivate donors if he plans to be financially competitive, especially against a force like Obama. March will be better, the GOP nominee’s aides pledge (who had also said that about January and February). For his sake, it had better be.

Related links:
Why McCain Might Win
Why Ron Paul Still Runs