McCain got $7 million in excess donations: DNC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain received nearly $7 million in 6,652 donations that exceeded contribution limits while seeking the Republican presidential nomination, the Democratic National Committee said on Saturday.

The DNC listed the figure in a complaint it said it will file on Monday with the Federal Election Commission. The Republican National Committee filed a similar complaint on October 5, alleging Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had not done enough to weed out illegal contributions.

In a copy of the DNC posted on the Internet, the DNC said on Saturday it compiled its information by examining donations recorded on McCain's campaign Web site.

"Analysis of the information ... shows that the McCain Campaign has received 6,653 contributions each of which was at least $1,000 in excess of the applicable $2,300 limit to the primary campaign," the DNC complaint said.

"Nineteen individuals contributed more then $10,000 each to the McCain Campaign -- more than four times the limit," said the document. It said the donations included one person who gave $56,047 and overall totaled "nearly $7 million."

The complaint asked the election commission to investigate the matter. It also accuses the McCain campaign of accepting donations without getting the donors' names and addresses.

A spokesman for the McCain campaign was not immediately available for comment. On its Web site, the New York Times political blog quoted McCain spokesman Brain Rogers as saying the DNC complaint was a publicity stunt to distract attention from Obama's "shady fund-raising practices."

(Reporting by Charles Abbott, editing by Anthony Boadle)