John McCain raised more than $1.75 million for Republicans Monday at a fundraiser that became high profile after a political operative connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff promoted it.

Abramoff Biography | Corruption Convictions

The event was promoted by Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition.

McCain's campaign said it was organized by the Republican National Committee - not Reed, who was linked to the Abramoff scandal that McCain investigated in the Senate.

McCain didn't note the issue during his 22-minute appearance. Instead, he thanked donors to the Republicans' umbrella campaign fund.

"Everybody in this room could be someplace else," the Arizona senator told the crowd of several hundred. "Everybody in this room could be donating to some other cause or to their own well-being. But I want to thank you."

Reed was not seen inside the hotel ballroom; a McCain campaign spokeswoman said he did not attend. But Democrat Barack Obama's rival presidential campaign sought to make him an issue, asking how much Reed-linked money was raised or would be kept by McCain's campaign.

"Faced with the embarrassing prospect of holding a fundraiser with one of Jack Abramoff's closest associates, the McCain campaign scrambled today to scratch Ralph Reed from tonight's program, but voters deserve to know the answers to the real questions raised by Reed's involvement," Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

In 2006, a Senate committee chaired by McCain tied Reed to the disgraced lobbyist.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, which obtained a copy of the event invitation, Reed invited McCain donors to the event.

Reed met Abramoff when both were active in the College Republicans, and he rose to prominence as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s.

In a 1998 e-mail message, Reed told Abramoff, "Hey, now that I'm done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts."

Reed later ran for lieutenant governor of Georgia, but lost the primary in 2006.

Also in 2006, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by McCain, found that Reed admitted receiving $4 million from Abramoff and one of the lobbyist's partners, to run anti-gambling campaigns in the South.

The Washington Post reported that Reed said he did not know where the funds were coming from, but e-mails suggested that he knew some of the money came from the coffers of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and their casino profits.

In the invitation obtained by the Atlanta newspaper, Reed wrote that, "John McCain believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, steady economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values."