President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney each held
unique financial advantages headed into the final 19 days of the race after
raising money at a furious pace during the first half of October.
Romney's campaign and
affiliated party committees raised $111.8 million between Oct 1. and 17, while
Obama's reelection committee and party allies pulled in $90.5 million,
according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election
Commission. The reports are the last required before election day.
Despite Romney's cash
advantage, Obama raised more directly into his campaign committee, pulling in
$54.4 million to Romney's $38 million.
That gives the president more
flexibility in how he can use his financial resources in the final stretch. As
of Oct. 17, Obama had $93.6 million in the bank, while his GOP rival had $52.7
million.
Overall, however, Romney and
his party allies had more on hand: $169 million, compared with almost $125
million held by the president and affiliated Democratic committees.
In the end, it is likely that
both candidates will exceed $1 billion in money raised, breaking previous
records. Since the beginning of the 2012 cycle, Obama's campaign and affiliated
committees have already pulled in a record $1.037 billion, according to FEC
data and the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute. That surpasses the $937 million
he raised for his 2008 White House bid through his campaign, the Democratic
National Committee and three joint fundraising committees.
Romney is also on track to
break the billion-dollar mark, with a total haul of $950.7 million now, some
which has gone to the party's congressional committees.
During the first 17 days of
October, Romney burned through $62 million and Obama spent $82.9 million.
The spending is only going to
intensify.
In a recent gathering of top
donors in New York, Romney campaign officials detailed their strategy for the
final weeks; at that point they planned to pump as much as $100 million into
television and online ads between Oct. 18 and election day. That massive
bombardment would mean a substantially expanded on-air presence for the
campaign.
The Republican National
Committee, which entered the final 19-day period with $67.6 million on hand,
plans to devote more money than planned to advertising, Chairman Reince Priebus
said Thursday.
Both candidates will be backed
by outside groups, but GOP-allied "super PACs" had a significant cash
advantage over their Democratic counterparts for the final leg of the race.
Priorities USA Action, the
super PAC backing Obama, raised $13 million during the first half of October.
More than half of its haul came from just seven donors who gave $1 million
each, including financier George Soros and Mark Pincus, chief executive of
online game company Zynga. The group spent $10.2 million and had $10.1 million
in the bank.
Meanwhile, the pro-Romney
group Restore Our Future raised $20 million, with half its take coming from
casino magnate and prolific Republican donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife,
Miriam, who each wrote $5 million checks a week apart.
In all, Adelson has suggested
he could spend more than $100 million in the 2012 campaign. Together with his
family, he has given at least $46.5 million in donations to groups that
disclose their donations, according to campaign finance reports.
Restore Our Future also
collected $1 million from each of a quartet of donors: Jerry Perenchio, former
chief of Spanish-language media company Univision; Julian Robertson, a
billionaire hedge fund manager; Dallas-based investor Harold C. Simmons; and
Edward St. John, a Baltimore developer. All except St. John are repeat donors
to the group.
The pro-Romney super PAC also
benefited from a rising stock market this year. In June, the committee said it
received stock worth $50,265 from Sean Fieler, a New York financial analyst and
chairman of a group called the American Principles Project, which advocates a
return to the gold standard. When the committee sold the stock last week, it
was worth $67,119.
After spending $12.5 million,
almost entirely on media and direct mail, Restore Our Future entered the final
three weeks of the election with $24 million cash on hand.
American Crossroads, the other
major Republican super PAC, brought in $11.6 million, some from the same
donors. Simmons wrote a $4 million check on Oct. 12, bringing his total to the
group to $12.5 million. Perenchio gave $500,000.
Texas home builder Bob Perry
and Robert B. Rowling, chairman of TRT Holdings, also each added $1 million.
Perry has given $5 million to American Crossroads alone; Rowling's checks total
$4 million.
After spending $21 million in
the first 17 days of October, the group entered the last leg of the campaign
with $6.4 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment