US presidential candidates Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain spent 94 million US dollars in August, as their race entered the home stretch, the US News and World Report said Monday.

Most of the spending went to advertising, and the rate is 1.5 million dollars a day.

Overall, Obama outspent McCain, with the Obama campaign spending 53 million dollars that month, 32 million dollars of which went to advertising.

That compared with the 41 million dollars spent by the McCain campaign, 23 million dollars of which went to advertising.

New figures show that Obama and the Democratic National Committee started this month with 95 million dollars in the bank, compared with a war chest of 94 million dollars for McCain and the Republican National Committee.

The latest Gallup daily presidential tracking poll shows Obama leading McCain 48 percent to 44 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2008)