McCain starts 16 city fundraising blitz

Now that John McCain has the Republican presidential nomination wrapped up, he is focusing on narrowing the enormous fundraising gap between himself and the Democrats.

On Thursday and Friday of this past week, he held fundraisers in Naples, Fla., Atlanta and Phoenix at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. He has others set for St. Louis, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Southern California, Salt Lake City, Denver and Las Vegas.

The Naples event on Thursday featured a number of leading real estate developers and private equity managers as well as Facundo Bacardi, chairman of rum maker Bacardi Ltd.

The St. Louis fundraiser March 10 will include August Busch III, CEO of Anheuser-Busch Cos. McCain's wife, Cindy Hensley McCain, chairs Phoenix-based Hensley & Co., one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the U.S.

EMC Corp. chairman Joseph Tucci is one of the organizers of McCain's Boston event on March 12.

Cigna Inc. CEO Edward Hanway and Carl Buchholz, managing partner of Washington lobbying and law firm Blank Rome LLP, are among the co-chairs of the March 13 Philadelphia fundraiser.

I guess when you don't have 1 million individuals supporting your campaign, you need to go out and find some big corporate backers.