Campaign Money Currently Favoring Obama
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The expected billion-dollar presidential election has nearly come to fruition already, but the fundraising totals that have been announced to this point don't tell the complete story of the 2012 race.
According to Politico, through the end of August, Romney's campaign, party committees, and Super PAC supporting it had raised $736 million for the campaign. President Barack Obama's campaign, party, and super PAC allies had raised $774 million for its campaign, Politico found.
Romney's campaign has a roughly $50 million edge in cash on hand headed into the final seven weeks of the campaign, but it also had $10 million more in debt after having to take out a $20 million loan to deal with "cash flow issues," according to Politico.
President Obama has also caught a fundraising wave over the last month, thanks in part to both gaffes from the Romney campaign and also a small boost from the Democratic National Convention. Politico found that Obama has continued to dominate in small donations, while also tapping into major donors.
According to Politico, Obama raised more than $25 million of his total funds in August from contributions of $200 or less, while the Romney campaign pulled in $9.4 million from similar donations.
Compounding Romney's money problems is that part of the money raised is "earmarked for the Republican National Committee, state Republican organizations, and Congressional races," according to the New York Times.
That is true for some of Obama's fundraising as well, with some of his money also being earmarked typically for the Democratic National Committee. For both candidates, this limits the amount of money the campaigns can spend on their own ads.
Currently, according to the Times, Obama and his allies are blanketing the airwaves in swing states like Colorado, Ohio, and New Hampshire. In states like Florida, Iowa, Nevada, and Virginia, the Times reports Obama is fighting Romney dollar-for-dollar and that Super PACs are sponsoring nearly half the advertising benefitting Romney.
While the race is far from over, between recent polling and the money race, President Obama has picked up momentum heading into the first debate in roughly 12 days. Still, with seven weeks left to go in the campaign, plus three national debates, the race for the Presidency is far from finished.
