For funds, hard-pressed McCain raised loan, and for loan he had to buy insurance

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.

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.

McCain’s finance reports provide new details about how desperate his financial situation was after his campaign suffered a seismic shakeup in the middle of last summer.

The senator from Arizona raised $24 million during the first six months of 2007, half what the campaign had projected. His initial plans called for highly paid consultants, state directors, large operations..

After obtaining the $4 million line of credit from Fidelity & Trust Bank in Bethesda, Md., in November, McCain spent nearly $3 million between Nov. 18 and Dec. 16, according to campaign records.

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