he Donald Trump campaign's boasts of a formidable fundraising month in July

spooked Democrats who feared their financial advantage could be slipping.

But a closer inspection of the campaign finance report filed just before
Saturday's midnight deadline indicates the haul came at a steep price, and
the campaign was still not dedicating resources to catching up on building
the staff and field organization that all previous presidential efforts have
required.

Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just
$36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign. The rest came in
through joint fundraising vehicles with the Republican National Committee
and state parties. But at least $9.5 million of that money is off limits for
spending on the election because it's designated for the RNC's convention,
headquarters and legal accounts. Plus, the RNC is considering spending its
money down-ballot instead of supporting Trump as tensions boil over
between the party's apparatus and its defiant nominee.

The money that the Trump campaign raised also didn't come cheap. The
campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5
million in July, far more than in any other period of the campaign. But most of
that money went toward expanding the campaign's online fundraising
operation.

A full 45 percent, or $8.4 million, went to Giles-Parscale, the San Antoniobased digital marketing firm that has done Trump's online advertising. (The
company had never worked for a campaign before 2016.) The campaign also
paid $100,000 to the Prosper Group for fundraising consulting.

Meanwhile, spending on the 84-person staff and field organizing barely

increased from the previous month, to just $392,000 and $432,000,
respectively. The campaign dropped much more $1.8 million on hats and
other merchandise.

By comparison, the Clinton campaign in July spent $2.9 million on its 703person payroll and $25.8 million on media.

The Trump campaign did succeed in improving its cash position, ending July
with $38.4 million on hand. But the Clinton campaign and her allied super
PACs still started August with a major financial advantage, with about $97
million stockpiled, to $43 million for Trump and his allies.

Trump also lagged what Mitt Romney's campaign raised four years ago: more
than $40 million.

The real-estate showman pumped another $2 million of his own money into
the campaign, bringing his total self-funding to $52 million. He also continued
patronizing his own businesses, spending at least $732,000 on his private jet
and at his properties in New York, Miami and Palm Beach.

To be sure, Trump trounced a crowded primary field by dispensing with

conventional notions of campaign management. But the bare-bones,
spendthrift approach has served him less well in the general election.

The latest report, which runs through the end of July, predates Trump's longawaited first ad buy, as well as last week's shake-up that replaced Paul
Manafort with Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and pollster Kellyanne
Conway at the top of the campaign.

The filing did list a $1,713.40 "contribution refund" to Manafort, who did not
take a salary for his work on Trump's behalf.

The consulting firm of ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also

continued to receive $20,000 from the Trump campaign in July, despite his
firing in June and new position as a CNN commentator.

The report also, for the first time, showed payments to Alan Garten, Trump's
corporate attorney, who had been accused of improperly performing work for
the campaign.

Legal fees for the campaign's outside law firm, Jones Day, gobbled up more
than $660,000. The Clinton campaign paid its outside counsel about a sixth of
that.

The Democrats' financial lead extended to the parties and allied super PACs.
The Democratic National Committee's $32.4 million beat the GOP's $27.2
million, despite the hacked emails whose release by WikiLeaks forced
chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign.

The main super PAC backing Clinton, Priorities USA Action, brought in another
$9.9 million, mostly from megadonors Daniel Abraham and Donald Sussman.
Meanwhile, the Great America PAC, which has spent the most of ads
supporting Trump, raised just $2.5 million. Hedge fund billionaire Robert
Mercer gave $2 million to an anti-Clinton super PAC called Make America
Number 1, which was formerly a pro-Cruz PAC called Keep the Promise I.