For John McCain, "the twist is lost on no one," write the New York Times' David Kirkpatrick and Michael Cooper. As a candidate who has spent "decades fighting to minimize the influence of money on politics," McCain "is under extraordinary pressure to scare up tens of millions of dollars to prove he can jump-start his campaign."

McCain received just $61,000 from the defense industry, about half of what second-tier candidate Chris Dodd got. The telecom industry gave McCain the largest slice of his money, even though McCain has tried to end "universal service" charges on phone bills, once called the cable industry price-gougers and voted against the 1996 telecom overhaul.

The problem is that an anonymous source said the campaign raised $7 million in April and May, short of their public goal of $12.5 million. To remedy that, McCain will attend 35 fundraising events across six states in the next 30 days, hoping to get more than $100,000 from each event. The "sprint for big checks is a stark contrast to his insurgent campaign" eight years ago when he "relied more than any candidate on anonymous small donors mailing in checks. A third of his donors then gave less than $200 and fewer than a third gave more than $1,000.

Continuing in money news, the Chicago Sun-Times' Chris Fusco and Tim Novak report that Tony Rezko and his associate admit to giving Barack Obama triple the amount of money than Obama had estimated he got from the indicted businessman as a state senator and U.S. Senate candidate. Obama received $168,308 from Rezko and his crowd as well as an "unknown amount of money from people who attended fund-raising events hosted by Rezko since the mid-1990s." Last winter Obama said his "best estimate" was between $50,000 and $60,000. Obama has given more than $30,000 to charity he got from Rezko's business partners referenced in the indictment, but $6,850 from others who also are referenced.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton sent a letter to all senators asking them to vote for a new authorization for the Iraq war, reports the New York Daily News' Michael McAuliff.

The Washington Post's Perry Bacon Jr. writes that while Nevada has made itself the second nominating state with a Jan. 19 caucus, only Bill Richardson has made it a priority to campaign there.

But Nevada hasn't exactly been forgotten: John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Obama and Richardson have all installed state and field directors there. The two kingmakers there are Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and D. Taylor, the head of the state's 60,000-strong Culinary Workers Union. "The math in this is simple: The state has about 400,000 registered Democrats, and with caucus participation expected to be 10 to 20 percent, the backing of even half of the union members could win Nevada." The union is about 45 percent Latino.

In Iowa, the New York Times' Adam Nagourney writes that John Edwards has made a populist pitch to the left to cement his position in the state. Rudy Giuliani will head there this Wednesday to begin detailing his "12 commitments," reports the New York Sun's Russell Berman.

The AP's Glen Johnson reports that Mitt Romney has slowly and methodically "seized the advantage in the early states that count, relying on a solid organization, $4 million in advertising and an aggressive approach." Romney is "now on his second and third meetings with top political leaders" in Iowa and New Hampshire, while his "Ask Mitt Anything" town hall meetings have become a campaign staple.

Lastly, tomorrow's special election for Georgia's 10th Congressional district "could be a harbinger of next year's congressional campaigns" as Iraq and immigration have dominated the election. The favorite is former state Senator Jim Whitehead, who has lined up the support of much of the Republican establishment after Rep. Charlie Norwood died in February.

Get these and today's other elections stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.