McCain says doesn't need public campaign cash

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain speaks at a rally at the Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond February 11, 2008.

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday he has rejected public funding and its accompanying spending limits as he seeks to wrap up the Republican presidential nomination.

The Arizona senator asked for public funds last summer after his campaign nearly foundered, but said on Monday he does not need taxpayer money as he seeks to secure the party's nomination for the November election.

"That was my thinking, we didn't need to," McCain said after a rally in Virginia, which along with Maryland and the District of Columbia holds primary elections on Tuesday.

The decision will allow McCain to ignore the $54 million spending limit he would have had to observe had he taken public funds, allowing him to train his sights on his eventual Democratic opponent.

McCain has raised at least $53 million so far, an amount dwarfed by Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, each of whom has raised at least $130 million.

The Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group, estimates each nominee will need to raise at least $500 million to compete in the most expensive election ever.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said fund-raising has picked up steadily in 2008. "We're really happy with how much we're raising right now. It's plenty to do the things we want to do," Davis said on the campaign plane on Friday.

McCain is the author of a prominent law that limits money in politics, angering some conservatives in his party who regard the law as a violation of free speech rights.

The public financing system, created in the 1970s after the Watergate scandal, is financed by taxpayers who check a box on their tax returns.

McCain all but secured the Republican nomination with coast-to-coast primary victories last Tuesday. His top rival, wealthy former venture capitalist Mitt Romney, spent more than $35 million of his own money before dropping out.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee defeated McCain in Louisiana and Nebraska on Saturday. But Huckabee will have a difficult task overcoming McCain, who has rolled up more than 700 of the 1,081 delegates needed to win the nomination.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)