President Barack Obama raised more money in August than Mitt Romney, snapping a three-month string in which the Republican challenger had held the edge in the decisive category.
The Obama campaign collected $114 million for the month, edging out the $111.6 million haul the Romney campaign managed over the same period, according to USA Today.
The total is a noticeable spike for the Obama camp, which managed just $75 million in July, and comes at a time when polls show the president beginning to pull ahead of his GOP rival.
“The key to fighting back against the special interests writing limitless checks to support Mitt Romney is growing our donor base, and we did that substantially in the month of August,” said Jim Messina, Obama’s national campaign manager.
The Romney campaign quickly issued a statement downplaying the latest monthly financial tally.
“Mitt Romney and [Vice Presidential nominee] Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems,” said a joint statement from national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. “That is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country.”
Republicans still hold a money advantage among Super PACs and other outside groups. The Romney campaign noted it has $168.5 million cash on hand, while the Obama campaign did not provide such a figure.
The new fundraising totals come on the heels of the Republican and Democratic conventions, and at a time when daily tracking polls show Obama surging ahead of Romney.
“The key to fighting back against the special interests writing limitless checks to support Mitt Romney is growing our donor base,” Messina said, “and we did substantially in the month of August.”
The GOP once again touted Obama’s alleged failed economic policies as further cause for change.
“Americans are not better off than they were four years ago and they are looking for a change of leadership,” the Romney campaign said in a statement. “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems – that is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country.
The Obama campaign said more than 1.1 million people donated to it in August, bringing its total number of donors to more than 3 million. The average donation was $58 and 98 percent of those who donated gave $250 or less.
The Romney campaign did not release its total number of donors in August, but said about 94 percent of its donations came from people who gave $250 or less.
The reversal of the three-month trend came at a time President Obama needed it most, having spent heavily over the summer on advertising in an attempt to hold Romney at bay. Both candidates are claiming momentum coming out of their national conventions over the past two weeks.
Despite Obama’s advantage in August, it’s the third consecutive month Romney has raised more than $100 million, and the figure represents his best one-month fundraising total.
