The final totals

Introduction

It’s official. President-Elect Barack Obama not only made history as the first black president, but also by drawing almost $750 million for his campaign — the most ever since anyone cared enough to start tracking such things. And he still has $30 million of it left in the bank.

Meanwhile, McCain, having opted for public financing, could only accept $85 million for the general election. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, he raised about $360 million during his campaign, which includes the public financing, but still puts him far behind Obama in the money race. (Of course, McCain got a serious boost from the RNC, which raised more than $80 million in the weeks leading up to the election.)

The totals for the various third-party candidates obviously pale in comparison to both Obama and McCain: Ralph Nader led the pack with about $4.5 million, followed by Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr with about $1.2 million, Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party with about $260,000, and the Green’s pick, Cynthia McKinney, with about $198,000.

The lesson: Money talks. But you already knew that.