By last November, John McCain’s presidential campaign was broke. To survive, he offered his fundraising lists as collateral for a $3 million line of credit from a local bank. But obtaining the loan required an unusual extra step: He had to take out a special life insurance policy in case he did not survive the campaign.

At the time, the 71-year-old senator’s effort was more than $500,000 in the red, and the bank’s line of credit was a pivotal lifeline that allowed him to make a strong showing in New Hampshire and eventually vault into the front-runner’s position.

McCain’s campaign is now back on solid financial ground, having raised at least $7 million this month. His victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida have loosened the spigot. In recent days, he has held packed fundraisers in Washington, Florida and California, and 10 days ago, a single event in New York raised $1 million.

Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College, said he had never heard of a candidate having to secure a loan with a life insurance policy.

“It was a big gamble, but I think one of the most important strategic moves the McCain campaign has made,” Corrado said. McCain was “rolling the dice to get the money early, and if they won, it would be easy to repay.”

The financial health of all the campaigns became modestly more clear Thursday, as several candidates submitted their 2007 year-end reports to the Federal Election Commission.

McCain’s chief rival for the Republican nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, raised $9 million during the last three months of 2007 and loaned his campaign $18 million of his own money. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee raised $9 million for the year. Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who dropped out of the White House race Wednesday, raised $59 million last year.

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