Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s fundraising clip slowed down in October to about a half of his torrid September pace even as he increased his spending to record levels.

Obama reported raising $36 million for his campaign during the first two weeks of October. He spent more than $105 million during that same period, a pace that would more than double his spending from September.

The Illinois senator shattered records and dumbfounded Republicans and Democrats by raising $150 million in September. One-fifth of the September amount came from a joint victory fund that divides proceeds with the Democratic Party. His October report showed no share from the victory fund even though it raised about $27 million during the same October period.

But as the election nears, both Obama and rival John McCain saw their cash on hand dwindle.

Obama had nearly $66 million in the bank at the end of the two week period. The Democratic National Committee and the joint victory fund reported combined cash on hand of $31 million.

Republican rival John McCain and the Republican National Committee reported having a combined $84 million as of last week to spend before Election Day.

The reports illustrated Obama’s superior financial position going into October. He spent more than $80 million on media advertising. McCain, using his resources and the RNC’s, spent a combined $38 million on ads.

McCain, who has accepted public financing for his campaign, is restricted in his spending. As of Oct. 15 he had more than $25 million in hand, but more than $1 in million debts. The RNC, which has been helping his candidacy, had more than $59 million in the bank.

At McCain’s spending rate of $1.5 million a day, the Arizona senator likely has only $12 million to spend in the next 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Obama is not participating in the public finance system, a strategy he used to advantage in September with a remarkable surge of donations. His October fundraising slowed, even though Democrats had hoped that presidential and vice presidential debates held during that period would have spurred additional giving.

Obama issued an e-mail fundraising appeal on Thursday, telling supporters that “the margins of victory in crucial battleground states will be small.”

“We can’t risk coming up short,” he added.

While Obama had drawn attention by his fundraising, McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, and the RNC came under scrutiny this week after the party committee reported that it had spent about $150,000 on wardrobe and cosmetics after Palin became McCain’s running mate.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Palin complained she was being held to a different standard and said the clothes bought for the Republican National Convention were not worth $150,000. She said most of the clothes have not left the campaign plane.

“Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are,” she said Thursday.

There was no evidence of additional clothing purchases in the most recent reports.

But McCain’s Oct. 1-15 filing showed that the campaign paid $22,800 to Palin’s traveling stylist, Amy Strozzi, an acclaimed celebrity makeup artist. In contrast, McCain’s foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.

McCain’s major expense was advertising _ he spent more than $19 million from Oct. 1-15 on ads. The RNC contributed an extra $10 million to help with those media buys. It also spent $8.5 million on ads on behalf of McCain that were placed independently of his campaign.

McCain also filed two additional reports. A report covering his primary contest shows he has $21 million in leftover funds. McCain cannot use that money for the general election, because he has accepted $84 million in public financing. But he has given some of the remaining money from the primaries to Republican Party committees in key battleground states to help him with his campaign.

Much of that money has been spent on direct mail and get-out-the-vote efforts.

McCain’s other report covered another account with $20.5 million as of Oct. 15. That fund can only be used to help cover legal and compliance costs associated with his participation in the public financing system.

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On the Net:

Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com