Democratic talk of an early, hard-hitting campaign to "define" and tar Arizona Senator John McCain appears to have fizzled for lack of money, leading to a quiet round of finger-pointing among Democratic operatives and donors as McCain assembles a campaign and a public image relatively unmolested.

Despite the millions of dollars pooling around Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, anti-McCain funds have fallen far short of the hopes set in November, when a key organizer, Tom Matzzie, reportedly told the Washington Post that the "Fund for America" would raise more than $100 million to support the activities of a range of allied groups.

The Democratic National Committee, too, is organizing an anti-McCain campaign, but a spokeswoman, Karen Finney, said fundraising to support that effort has met "mixed" results.

So while press releases and Internet ads have been launched, the largest bore weapon in contemporary politics — a sustained television campaign - hasn't. That's because, people involved say, the soft-money groups don't have the soft money.

"Many of the people who would normally be involved in such an effort are overly focused on the primary - which is a mistake," said Michael Vachon, a spokesman for George Soros, who is the largest individual donor to the Fund For America, which in turn has passed on at least $1.4 million to what was expected to be the main attack group, an organization called the Campaign to Defend America.

"We know we're going to have a good Democratic nominee - it's time for Democrats to turn their attention to John McCain," Vachon said.

Leading Democratic donors decided last fall not to repeat the 2004 pattern of pouring money into ad hoc organizations which would dissolve after the election. Instead, they created the Fund for America, led by former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. Mattzie, a former MoveOn official, help spur its creation and now heads the Campaign to Defend America.