Republican Sen. John McCain raised $27 million in July, his largest fundraising haul of his campaign as he tries to match the millions raised by Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama.

The July numbers mark the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase for the GOP hopeful. McCain raised $27 million in July, and had $21 million available to spend, while the Republican National Committee brought in nearly $26 million, and began August with $75 million on hand.

The Democratic National Committee has not been as independently adept at fundraising — relying instead on Obama’s own record-breaking fundraising prowess. McCain alone now has 600,000 donors, while, by comparison, Obama recently surpassed 2 million contributors.

After McCain formally accepts the nomination at the Republican convention in early September, he will have around $84 million in taxpayer funds to spend through public financing. Obama opted out of the public system.

McCain has lagged significantly behind Obama in fundraising numbers throughout the campaign but his July haul and help from the RNC coffers allowed him to purchase significant TV advertising time, including expensive ad slots during the Beijing Olympics. McCain will essentially lose any private contributions raised before public financing kicks in unless he spends them in August.

McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis estimated the advertising budget at over $20 million for August. The campaign released a new ad on Friday that again criticized Obama’s position on taxes called “Taxman.”

“Higher taxes. Higher gas prices. Economic disaster. That’s the real Obama,” the narrator reads.

Obama’s campaign had not yet released numbers from July. In June, Obama raised $52 million and had a significant lead in overall fundraising before July with about $340 million raised to McCain’s nearly $140 million.