President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO
WASHINGTON—Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney raked in more than $100 million in fundraising in July, widening the cash advantage he enjoys over President Barack Obama, who garnered over $75 million.
The presumptive Republican nominee pulled in $101.3 million for his campaign and the Republican National Committee, the Romney camp said in a statement exactly three months before Americans go to the polls.
Romney and the RNC now have around $185.9 million of cash on hand to throw into campaign advertising and grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts in the intense final months of the campaign to deny Obama re-election in November.
Obama, once the champion fundraiser, was outpaced for the third straight month by Romney. His camp revealed its own July fundraising numbers on Twitter, saying the president had made more than $75 million from 761,000 donors.
The president’s campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One that Obama always expected to be outraised by Romney, but said the focus was on building the biggest grass roots political campaign in history.
“We know we’re going to be outspent. That’s a reality,” she said.
“We know they may have more resources on the air, but we have a message and a plan that we think is going to translate better for middle-class voters and people who are deciding in November who they want to support.”
The president was already getting to work on his August fundraising figures on Monday, with two campaign fundraisers in Connecticut.
Obama, who leads Romney by a slim margin in state and national polls, argues that he has a vision to improve the lives of America’s hard pressed middle classes, while his opponent would tilt the economy further towards the rich.
Romney’s July’s figure was slightly down from his record take of $106.1 million in June, which dwarfed Obama’s haul of $71 million for the same month.
Romney is also getting a deluge of support from SuperPac campaign committees into which individuals and corporations can pour unlimited sums to fund attacks on the president and his record.
The Republican’s camp said that 94 percent of all his donations received in July were for $250 or less, seeking to counter perceptions fanned by the Obama campaign that he is overwhelmingly funded by rich donors.
“Once again we see that for many people, this is more than a campaign, it is a cause,” Romney Victory national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and RNC chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.
The Obama campaign said 98 percent of its contributions in July were for $250 or less, for an average donation of $53.49, adding that 2.7 million people had so far pitched into the president’s 2012 re-election effort.
The president’s team did not give a figure for the amount of money Obama has remaining to spend, following a blitz of negative advertising in swing states targeting Romney’s personal financial arrangements and tax policies.
Obama campaign chiefs have tried to drum up more enthusiasm among Democrats for fundraising, warning several times that they are likely to be beaten in the money race by Romney and that a large gap in resources could be decisive.
The president has a string of fundraisers planned, including one at his family home on Sunday in Chicago.