The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Monday issued a fundraising solicitation penned by the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) — the first Obama has written for the committee since securing the nomination earlier this month.

In the e-mail solicitation, Obama argues that the political change he is working for needs a stronger Democratic majority in the Senate to be achieved — and he invokes the name of his erstwhile rival for the presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

“This November, we have a chance to create a Democratic Senate majority like we haven’t seen in decades — but it won’t happen on its own,” Obama writes. “For eighteen months, Sen. Hillary Clinton and I counted on people like you to support our campaigns for president — and now I am asking you to do the same for a tremendous slate of Democratic Senate candidates by supporting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.”

Obama goes on to say that “even a $5 contribution is enough to make a difference when it adds to our growing strength.”

Earlier this month, Obama wrote a fundraising appeal on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. By contrast, his rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), skipped a major fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., last week that benefited the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.