Pres. Obama Finally Beats Mitt Romney in Fundraising for the Month of August

Say what you want about both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, but you can’t say that either one of these men are quitters.  In a very close presidential race, President Obama finally edged Mitt Romney for fundraising during the month of August.  Obama’s team raised $114 million, compared with Romney’s haul of $111.6 million.

This puts an end to Romney’s three-month dominance over the Obama campaign when it comes to securing critical funding necessary to win elections in key battleground states.

“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.

The president only raised $75 million in August, so the $114 million dollar mark is a huge jump for his team.  It is also reflective of how Romney’s team has raised the stakes by increasing the fundraising power of the Republican Party.

“Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems,” said a joint statement from Romney’s national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. “That is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country.”

Romney still has more money than Obama coming from Super PACs.  The Romney campaign told the press that it has $168.5 million cash on hand.  President Obama’s team didn’t release this information.   In spite of the fundraising differential, President Obama is leading Romney in all major polls.  His way with the audience and overall likeability make him tough competition for the often stiff and uncomfortable Romney.

Here’s more of what Messina had to say:

“Fueled by contributions from more than 1.1 million Americans donating an average of $58 — more than 317,000 who had never contributed to the campaign before — we raised a total of more than $114 million. That is a critical downpayment on the organization we are building across the country — the largest grassroots campaign in history.”

Here is the Romney-Republican statement:

“Americans are not better off than they were four years ago and they are looking for a change of leadership. 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.”

Obama’s campaign claims that a donor base of 1.1 million people gave to the campaign in August, putting its entire donor base at three million.  The average donation was $58.