Both Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama and his Republic rival John McCain used a loophole in the law to sidestep caps on direct donations, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

Federal law caps direct donations to a presidential campaign at 4,600 U.S. dollars, but Obama and McCain have used a loophole in the law to set up joint accounts with their parties to which people contribute far more, the Los Angeles Times said.

Californians have given at least 30 million dollars, including 16 million last month, to Obama's campaign since Obama set up the Obama Victory Fund in July, said the paper.

Obama raised more than 36 million dollars last month, close to half of it from wealthy California donors who gave up to 61,600 dollars each, surpassing the 4,600-dollar limit, the paper said.

Donors can write a single large check to the Obama Victory Fund, and have it split among Obama, the Democratic National Committee ( DNC) and certain state accounts for the Obama campaign's benefit, said the paper.

A review of these donations shows that more than half, 35.9 million dollars, came from people giving more than 4,600 dollars. Almost a fourth, 16.7 million, consisted of donations of 28,500 or more, according to the paper.

(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency October 22,2008)