But Hug said, "It's going to be a full house." The Center Club can hold a few hundred people, so McCain's take will likely be six figures.
Some prominent Maryland Republicans will not be attending. Lobbyist W. Minor Carter said neither he nor other key members of a group of veterans supporting McCain plan to be there, an indication that Ehrlich and his top allies have yet to bridge differences with some longtime McCain supporters.
"We have, since McCain began this run, not been working with the apparatus holding this, because they had been supporting other people," Carter said.
McCain's scheduled stop has drawn the attention of Obama's top Maryland supporters, including Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who gathered yesterday with Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin in the shadow of the downtown office tower that houses the Center Club to denounce McCain as out-of-touch with the needs of city and state residents.
"When he leaves with his pockets full of money, there will still be people in our state trying to figure out how to make ends meet," said Cummings, who with Gansler is an Obama Maryland campaign co-chairman. Representatives of the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO are planning demonstrations today.
Neither Cummings nor Gansler has donated to Obama, federal records show. Cummings said yesterday that he traveled extensively at his own expense on Obama's behalf and, "I've done enough." Gansler said he has helped Obama raise money.
The Baltimore fundraiser is one of a series of money-raising stops in the Northeast by McCain, who has set an ambitious schedule of fundraisers during a week when rival Obama is visiting the Middle East and Europe on a high-visibility international trip.
McCain raised money yesterday in Kennebunkport, Maine, later appearing before reporters with former President George Bush and in Buffalo, N.Y., his campaign said.
The Baltimore stop "is part of his aggressive fundraising activity across the country," spokesman Gail Gitcho said. The McCain campaign plans to open its first Maryland office in the next few weeks in Annapolis, where McCain spent his undergraduate years as a Naval Academy midshipman, Gitcho said.
Nationally, McCain has raised $132.7 million, compared with $339.2 for Obama, according to the FEC. But the Republican National Committee is accumulating reserves that it can spend on McCain's behalf, helping to close the gap.
The Obama campaign has taken pride in the number of new and relatively small donors it has attracted. More than 46 percent of its donations have been in amounts of $200 or less, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money in elections.
Among McCain givers, about 26 percent gave $200 or less. Nearly one in two McCain donors contributed the maximum individual amount of $2,300 for a primary or general election, while about 27 percent of Obama contributors did so.
david.nitkin@baltsun.com
Fundraiser
What: McCain fundraiser
Where: Center Club, 100 Light Street, Baltimore
When: Today 6 p.m. VIP reception; 6:30 p.m. general reception
Tickets: $1,000 per person general; $2,300 per person VIP
