Romney’s latest FEC filings expected to be slightly lower as campaigns and Super Pacs prepare to saturate the airwaves.
President Barack Obama’s campaign to win a second term in the White House is approaching the end of the US election cycle flush with cash after yet another massive month of fundraising.
The latest figures from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that Obama for America pulled in a total haul of more than $126m in September.
The campaign, which has faced a resurgent Republican challenge fromMitt Romney ahead of the 6 November ballot, now sits atop a cash mountain of some $100m as money taken in has outstripped money spent so far.
The news provides a welcome shot in the arm for the Obama team which appeared to be cruising to a comfortable lead in the polls before a poor performance by Obama in the first presidential debate in Denver saw the race suddenly narrow.
The impressive fundraising total means the Obama camp’s advertising campaigns will continue relentlessly onwards via the airwaves of the crucial battleground states and help ensure a well-funded “ground game” that will get out the vote on election day.
Romney’s own returns for September are set to be filed to the FEC later Saturday. It is set to be a roughly similar sum though a little lower than Obama’s.
Earlier this week the Romney team indicated it would raise around $170m in September but in conjunction with the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The RNC has now released sums showing it hauled in $48m, meaning Romney’s campaign would have to directly raise in the region of $122m to hit their stated total.
But it is not just parties and candidates that matter in the 2012 election. Outside bodies, known as Super Pacs, are also big players after a loosening of campaign finance regulations.
They are controversial because of much less strict laws governing disclosure of
donor identities and how much any individual can fork over.
The newest figures from the FEC also show the Democrats’ main Super Pac brought in a big sum. The pro-Obama group Priorities USA Action said it raised $15.2m in September, compared with $14.8m for the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Republicans showed greater fundraising strength at the party level in September.
But on a party level the Republicans are doing better. The Democratic National Committee could not compete with the RNC’s efforts. The DNC raised $20.3m in September and actually borrowed $10.5m.
It ended September $20.5m in debt, according to its filing with the FEC.
(The Guardian)
