Traditional big industry sources of campaign cash are drying up for President Barack Obama, leaving his bottom line behind where it was four years ago, according to a report in
The New York Times.
Although still outpacing presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, the Obama camp is dropping back to punt, relying on grass-roots supporters, whose relatively small contributions make up well over half of the war chest he pulled in through the end of March, according to federal records reported in the Times.
Obama’s campaign raised about $196 million through March, compared with $235 million at the same point in 2008. The Times suggests this is owing to the lack of a Democratic primary, a still-lagging economy, and four years of at-best lukewarm relations with Wall Street and other industries.
“They clearly are feeling the pressure,” said one major Obama fund-raiser. “They’re behind where they expected to be. You have to factor in $500 million-plus in Republican super PAC money.”
The good news is that the bad news has been somewhat offset by a very successful joint fund-raising program with the national committee, which raised about $150 million, twice as much as in 2008.
But the good news from the national committee efforts still leaves Obama in a bind. According the Times’ arithmetic, to raise as much money as he did four years ago, he would have to bring in about $70 million a month through the end of the election cycle -- more than triple his rate so far.
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