CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised more than $51 million in July, his campaign said on Saturday, nearly double that of his Republican rival John McCain.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama waves to the audience as they sing him "Happy Birthday" during a campaign stop at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Michigan August 4, 2008. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

The Obama campaign received contributions from 65,000 new donors, it said, and a total of more than 2 million people have contributed.

The Illinois senator’s campaign has $65.8 million cash on hand, it said. That was a drop from $72 million in cash in June.

McCain’s campaign, which has not matched Obama’s fundraising success, said on Friday it pulled in $27 million in July and had $21.4 million in cash at the end of the month. The Arizona senator’s campaign had $27 million in the bank at the end of June.

The Obama campaign’s July haul was near the $52 million it raised the previous month, and the McCain camp’s total topped the $22 million it raised in June.

“The 65,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to fundamentally change business as usual in Washington,” Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement.

Obama’s fundraising prompted him to forego public financing for the last two months of the campaign, which would have come with spending limits.

McCain is taking public funds and will get an infusion of $84 million from a government presidential election fund next month. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, said the campaign also would get some $20 million from the Republican Party.

The political parties will continue to raise money throughout the campaign for their respective presidential and congressional candidates.

The Republican National Committee raised $25.8 million in July and ended the month with more than $75.8 million in cash.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said on Saturday it had raised $27.7 million in July and had $28.5 million in cash. Those totals grouped the DNC’s own amounts with two other Democratic fundraising arms.