Overseas donations to U.S. candidates rise

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Donations to U.S. presidential candidates from Americans living abroad have reached an all-time high, records show.

U.S. Federal Election Commission records show likely Democratic Party presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has received $2.8 million in money donated from U.S. citizens living abroad, more than what U.S. President George Bush and 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., raised combined in the last presidential election, ABC News reported Tuesday.

With more money coming in from overseas, it's getting harder for Obama and probable Republican opponent Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to thoroughly assure that none of it is coming from non-citizens, which is illegal under U.S. election laws, ABC News said. Both candidates have had to return donations found to have come from foreigners.

"This is obviously a concern," Larry Noble, a former Federal Elections Commission general counsel, told ABC News. "There is a limit, frankly, to what they (the campaigns) can do."