That's what McCain sources are now saying. His campaign has $2 million in debt. His actual cash on hand number isn't yet available.

The question for McCain now, as Jonathan Martin notes, is whether to take public financing, as has Edwards, who raised only $2 million more than McCain did this quarter.

The low McCain tally looks even worse when you recall that McCain actually got some of his best media of the campaign this quarter, what with his "No Surrender" tour. Remember, the McCain team's spin last month was that the alleged success of the surge was going to give them just the spark they needed to turn their campaign around. The mantra was that McCain was going to "own" the successful surge.

McCain may own the surge, but he still doesn't own a campaign warchest with any firepower in it -- something he needs a lot more at this juncture.

Plus, as a rival campaign aide quickly noted, McCain's already spending money pretty rapidly on the air in New Hampshire. "It'll go quick," the aide guffawed, adding as a caveat that McCain enjoys plenty of free media from reporters who are quick to write that he's back based on little to no evidence. "He gets 10 stories for every 1 point he bumps in the polls for a media all too willing to write his comeback story," the aide groused.