By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, APPresident Obama speaks at a fundraiser hosted by singer Ricky Martin and the LGBT Leadership Council in New York on Monday.
By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, APPresident Obama speaks at a fundraiser hosted by singer Ricky Martin and the LGBT Leadership Council in New York on Monday.
Obama and his Democratic fund-raising arms would have to take in nearly $60 million a month between now and Election Day just to match the $745 million he raised as a candidate in 2008. The $53 million he raised in March for himself and the party was his best fund-raising month of the year."One of the most important things we can do is get arms around the fact that this election is going to be close, given the historic challenges the nation faced when the president first came into office," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video to supporters Wednesday. He said more than $57 million in negative ads targeting Obama have already aired and more are on the way.The campaign announcement came as Crossroads GPS, a non-profit group linked to Republican strategist Karl Rove, announced it would spend $25 million on advertising slamming Obama on the economy and federal deficit. Crossroads GPS and its super PAC, American Crossroads, have pledged to spend $300 million to oppose Obama and congressional Democrats.Messina said 169,500 donors gave to Obama for the first time in April, putting the campaign within reach of nearly 2 million contributors. He said the money paid for building the campaign infrastructure and boosting get-out-the-vote efforts in key battleground states, including opening 42 new field offices in April and registering 15,000 new voters in North Carolina. In 2008, Obama won the state by a mere 14,000 votes.In a conference call Wednesday, deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said the campaign feels "pretty good" about its fund-raising and the ground operation that "will decide the election."
Obama's April figures don't include a new round of presidential fundraisers in recent weeks that have taken the president to New York City and Los Angeles. Obama raised an estimated $15 million at a single event last week at actor George Clooney's home.Republican presumptive nominee Mitt Romney had collected just $12.6 million in March but has yet to release his April fund-raising totals. In recent weeks, Romney has begun collecting campaign money with the Republican National Committee and is attending a round of fundraisers in Florida this week. His supporters say Romney and the RNC aim to collect a combined $800 million.On Wednesday, RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski sent out an email slamming Obama as "fundraiser in chief." Contributing: Aamer Madhani
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By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
The campaign did not disclose the size of Obama's cash reserves at month's end. Those totals and other details of Obama fundraising will become public later this week when presidential candidates file reports with the Federal Election Commission.Romney has not yet released March fundraising totals, but he had collected a little more than $75 million through the end of February. This month, he began raising funds jointly with the Republican National Committee, which will run ads and conduct voter-outreach efforts in the months ahead.The Republican National Committee (RNC), which started the election cycle mired in debt, is showing renewed strength. It raised $13.7 million in March, its best fundraising month of the election and ended the month with nearly $33 million in available cash.Kirsten Kukowski, the RNC's spokeswoman, noted that Obama still lags behind his fundraising pace in March 2008, when he raised $42.8 million in his primary fight with Hillary Rodham Clinton without the benefit of the Democratic Party.Obama's team counters they are using their cash stockpile to build a national campaign infrastructure.Republican donors are more energized than they have been in a while, said Fred Malek, a top fundraiser in Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential bid who now is raising money for Romney. "It's going to be a record amount of fundraising on our side this year," he said.In Romney, "we finally have a proven and experienced private-sector executive who knows how to create jobs," Malek said. "That's combined with an abject fear of four more years of President Obama and his policies."Republican outside groups, including super PACs that can raise unlimited corporate money, have consistently outraised their Democratic counterparts.For instance, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supported by House Republican leaders, raised nearly $5.1 million during the first three months of the year, boosted by $5 million from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam. Adelson and his family have donated $16.5 million to help Republican Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, and the donation demonstrates he also is willing to finance the party's establishment.By contrast, the House Majority PAC, working to elect Democrats to the House, raised $1.5 million during the first three months of the year, new filings show.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.