Any U.S. citizen can donate up to $2,300 to a presidential candidate in both the 2008 primary and general elections. But to be B.F.F.’s with John McCain or Barack Obama, you have to be a bundler: a wealthy, well-connected C.E.O., lobbyist, or pal who coaxes cash from dozens of donors. By mid-May, McCain’s bundlers far outnumbered Obama’s, but McCain’s campaign had raised just $89 million, compared with Obama’s $264 million, according to watchdog group Public Citizen. And each effort has its own threshold: Bundlers must raise $100,000 to make McCain’s list but only $50,000 to be on Obama’s. 

McCAIN V$. OBAMA
The best-known bundlers and what they've raised, and for whom they've raised it.

$250,000
Al D’Amato, founder, Park Strategies, and former U.S. senator. For McCain.
John Thain, C.E.O., Merrill Lynch. For McCain.

$200,000
Ken Griffin, C.E.O. Citadel Investment Group. For Obama.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder, DreamWorks Animation SKG. For Obama.
Penny Pritzker, C.E.O., Classic Residence by Hyatt, and Hyatt heir. For Obama.

$100,000
August Busch III, former C.E.O., Anheuser-Busch. For McCain.
Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV, owner, New York Jets, and Johnson & Johnson heir. For McCain.
Peter Peterson, co-founder, Blackstone Group. For McCain.
Ari Emanuel, founder, Endeavor Agency. For Obama.

$50,000
David Geffen, co-founder, DreamWorks Animation SKG. For Obama.
Reed Hundt, adviser, Blackstone Group, and Bill Clinton’s first F.C.C. chairman. For Obama.
Howard Milstein, chairman, New York Private Bank & Trust. For Obama.
Oprah Winfrey, chair, Harpo Productions. For Obama.

Sources: Public Citizen, using campaign data and media reports; the Washington Post.