Romney (Still) Raising More Money Than Obama

Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee have more money in the bank than President Obama and the Democratic National Committee, according to the June campaign finance reports. Romney and his affiliated party committees also beat Obama and his Democratic Party committees at the fundraising game for the second straight month, $106 million to $70 million, details the Los Angeles Times.

By the end of June, Romney’s campaign, along with the party fundraising committees, had $170 million in cash reserves, $26 million more than Obama and the Democratic committees had available. That in part is due to the huge amounts of money Obama has spent as part of an effort to define Romney early to voters, points out Politico. Obama has spent a combined $189 million in April through June, compared with the $138 million spent by Romney. In ads alone, the Obama campaign spent $43 million last month, compared with Romney’s $12 million.

Republicans also enjoy a nice cash advantage with the outside groups known as super PACs. Even though the pro-Obama Priorities USA group had its best month yet in June, raising $6.2 million, it was nowhere close to the $20 million raised by pro-Obama super PAC Restore Our Future, reports the Hill. Priorities USA spent more than it raised in June as it unleashed a barrage of ads targeting Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital.

Bob Biersack of the Center for Responsive Politics recently told USA Today spending on the presidential race could hit $3 billion this year. It’s little wonder then that neither candidate can give himself much of a break. Even though both Romney and Obama suspended their campaigns Friday out of respect for the Colorado victims, they will both be heading to the West Coast Monday for more fundraising, notes the Hill.