You would think a multi-millionaire like Mitt Romney would have easily won the cash race with U.S. President Barack Obama in the presidential election campaign, with the help of some deep-pocketed friends.
But the fundraising picture that emerged after the conventions wound down and the final push to the White House ramped up told a more nuanced story.
Data shows that while the Republican National Committee and super PACs that support Romney鈥檚 campaign outpaced fundraising by the Democratic National Committee and PACs that back Obama, the incumbent has raised far more than his GOP rival.
Late summer, numbers showed that the RNC had raised about $20 million more than the DNC. And the primary super PAC backing the Romney campaign, 鈥楻estore Our Future,鈥� had raised about four times as much as 鈥楶riorities USA,鈥� the PAC supporting Obama.
Mid-September figures for the individual campaigns, however, show that Obama had raised more than $340,000,000, compared to Romney鈥檚 just over $190,000,000.
In September, the Obama campaign announced that after getting beaten for three straight months, the president and the Democrats 鈥渙utraised鈥� Romney and the Republicans $114 million to $111 million for the month of August.
While Obama鈥檚 cash-flow bump was a marked increase from the $75 million he raised in July, August was the third-straight month that the Romney campaign topped the $100-million mark.
Some attributed Obama鈥檚 cash flow increase to widely praised speeches at the Democratic National Convention by first lady Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton.
But whatever the cause, the Obama campaign was still forced to admit that it was being outspent, particularly by the powerful super PACs associated with Romney. Super PACs are political action committees that can raise, and spend, unlimited sums of money to advocate for or against candidates. Super PACs cannot, however, donate any money directly to a candidate.
鈥淩ight before the conventions, we were being outspent by super PACs alone in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. That margin was more than 2-to-1 in Florida, Iowa, and North Carolina,鈥� Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in September.
Messina hailed his campaign鈥檚 more distant relationship with super PACs, saying it should be 鈥渙rdinary Americans鈥� that decide the election鈥檚 outcome.
But in its own release, the Romney campaign said that more than 94 per cent of its August donations were for $250 or less.
鈥淢itt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country鈥檚 problems -- that is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country,鈥� Spencer Zwick, Romney鈥檚 national finance chair, and RNC chair Reince Priebus said in a statement.
That September statement showed that Romney had more than $160 million in cash on hand, tens of millions more than the Obama campaign.
And the Republican challenger is set to get a boost from a well-connected supporter in the form of Karl Rove, former George W. Bush chief of staff. Rove mobilized his own super PAC, called 鈥淎merican Crossroads,鈥� to 鈥渃arpet bomb鈥� Obama and Vice President Joe Biden with attack ads over the last 57 days of the campaign.
The Obama campaign has promised a counterattack. But with tens of millions less in cash on hand than the Romney campaign, Obama will have to keep up the winning fundraising streak.
