Politics
Election 2012: Obama campaign fundraising edges out Romney in August
U.S. President Barack Obama (l) and Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. PHOTO/File
President Barack Obama and Democrats pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney and Republicans in monthly fundraising in August for the first time in four months.
Obama raised more than US$114 million in August and Romney brought in just over US$111 million. The two campaigns announced their fundraising numbers early Monday.
It’s a sharp increase for Obama, who raised US$75 million in July. That had been the third straight month he and the Democratic Party trailed Romney and the GOP in monthly fundraising.
Obama’s campaign said more than 1.1 million people donated to the campaign in August, bringing its total number of donors to more than 3 million. The average donation was US$58 and 98 percent of those who donated gave US$250 or less.
“The key to fighting back against the special interests writing limitless checks to support Mitt Romney is growing our donor base, and we did that substantially in the month of August,” said Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign spokesman.
Romney’s campaign did not release its total number of donors in August, but said about 94 percent of its donations came from people who gave US$250 or less.
“Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems. That is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country,” Romney’s national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said in a joint statement.
