Kyle McSlarrow, chief of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the lobbying arm for the cable industry, has raised over $100,000 for Mr. McCain. He and others in the cable industry recently butted heads with Mr. McCain over a proposal that would allow customers to pick and choose which channels they received.

Image Senator John McCain has campaigned on curbing the influence of money in politics. Credit... Lawrence Jackson/Associated Press

In an interview Sunday, Wayne Berman, who is deputy finance chairman of the McCain campaign and a veteran lobbyist whose clients include Verizon and Verizon Wireless, dismissed the notion that some lobbyists might be raising money for Mr. McCain to curry influence.

“When it comes to McCain,” Mr. Berman said, “there’s just absolutely no concern whatsoever that he is going to be influenced by lobbyists. He takes on issues as he sees them. It doesn’t matter whether his best friends are on the other side or not.”

But the McCain campaign, which struggled over much of the past year in raising money, is now seeking to emulate the record-setting money machine that powered George W. Bush to victories in 2000 and 2004, bestowing special titles upon bundlers who exceed certain financial targets.

Instead of “Pioneers” and “Rangers,” as President Bush’s top fund-raisers were called, Mr. McCain is dubbing the 73 people so far who have brought in $100,000 or more “Trailblazers,” while the 33 who brought in $250,000 or more are being called “Innovators.”

Campaign finance watchdogs criticized the Pioneer and Ranger system for establishing an elite class of donors, many of whom went on to ambassadorships and other political appointments. But Mr. McCain’s advisers believe the system offers the best chance for the campaign to encourage as many people as possible to raise large amounts of cash for him.

Mr. McCain has badly trailed both Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in fund-raising  in March, for example, he brought in $15 million, compared with Mr. Obama’s $40 million and Mrs. Clinton’s $20 million. While Mr. McCain’s Democratic counterparts, especially Mr. Obama, have enjoyed much success in harvesting small-dollar donations over the Internet, Mr. McCain has not built an effective Internet fund-raising machine, forcing him to depend on a circle of wealthy donors.