McCain will need all the financial help he can muster as he moves toward the November vote against Obama's well-oiled fundraising machinery that has rolled up an astounding bankroll.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has begun searching for votes in Republican strongholds and other battleground states, aiming to draw sharp contrasts with opponent John McCain _ especially on the struggling U.S. economy.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, planned a series of fundraising stops first in Virginia and Washington, D.C., looking for donors as the general election campaign begins in earnest now that Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her bid for the Democratic nomination and robustly threw her support behind Obama over the weekend.