Obama, Democrats raise over $53 million in March (VIDEO)
US President Barack Obama smiles while speaking during a prayer breakfast in the East Room of the White House April 4, 2012 in Washington, DC. The Obama campaign and the Democratic Party raised over $53 million in March.
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party together raised over $53 million in the month of March for 2012 campaign spending, according to the Associated Press.
This is much higher than the amount raised by the Republican National Committee, which raised $13.7 million last month. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, recently began jointly fundraising with the RNC.
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But Obama's fundraising is not as rosy as it could be; Politico reported that the reason fundraising has "been solid, but not jaw-dropping, is that there hasn't been a general election-like contrast with a Republican opponent."
Obama For America, the campaign organization, said 567,000 donors gave in March, nearly 200,000 of which were first-time donors. 97 percent of the donations were for $250 or less, according to Bloomberg.
During the last election cycle, when Obama was still battling Hillary Clinton and working without the support of the Democratic National Committee, he raised $42.8 million, Politico reported.
The AP wrote: "Republicans note that Obama's fundraising efforts this year are slightly behind the $136 million his campaign raised during the first three months of 2008 when he didn't have the party's fundraising apparatus at his disposal."
With Mitt Romney now widely expected to be the GOP nominee, April numbers will be all the more critical as a gauge of fundraising prowess.
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Below is a campaign video released by Jim Messina, the Obama For America campaign manager, highlighting the fundraising numbers.