Obama camp spent more than they took in for July
CBS/AP
(AP) WASHINGTON - Facing strong fundraising from his Republican challenger, President Barack Obama and Democrats have spent more than they brought in last month as the president expanded his campaign operations and purchased millions of dollars in television advertising to compete with rival Mitt Romney.
New campaign finance reports out Monday show Obama's campaign spent about $59 million in July, much of it on advertising and paid staff. That's compared with about $49.2 million in total receipts during the same period, Federal Election Commission data show.
Obama's re-election effort has so far been losing the money race to Romney and the Republicans, who have out-raised the president in May, June and July. Romney and the GOP reported a combined $101 million in fundraising last month, while Obama and the Democrats together said they raised $75 million.
Early reports showed the Democratic National Committee spent about $14 million in coordinated advertising with Obama. That's as the DNC raised roughly $10 million in July while also spending $32 million, leaving the party with about $15.4 million in the bank by month's end.
The fundraising disparity has been so significant that Obama campaign officials have publicly stated they expect to be outraised by Romney. The former Massachusetts governor has enjoyed not only significant contributions to his campaign and party, but also millions of dollars in cash to outside "super" political groups running ads on his behalf.
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In turn, Obama's campaign spent about $40 million in July on advertising buys, about $8.8 million of which was reserved for online advertising. Obama's campaign has prided itself on being a tech-savvy operation and relies mostly on small-dollar donors via the Internet, where such targeted ads run.
By contrast, Romney's campaign reported $40.3 million in July revenues and spending $32.7 million. Just like for Obama, a bulk of those expenses went to advertising purchases, although only about $15.5 million by comparison. The new data show Romney had fewer than half the number of paid staffers as Obama, or about 320.
"At some point, with all of the money spent on the air on the GOP side, advertising will hit a saturation point," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "And that's why the unparalleled ground organization we're building — which can't be replicated in the time remaining — could provide us with the decisive edge."
Obama's campaign has also swelled to more than 800 paid staffers across the country, the reports showed, not counting volunteers. More than 350 of those payroll checks went to addresses in Chicago, the campaign's base of operations.
Super PACs working on behalf of both Romney and Obama reported modest fundraising hauls in July. The pro-Romney Restore Our Future, which just announced $10 million in new ad buys, raised $7.5 million last month, and Obama-supportive Priorities USA Action said it brought in $4.8 million during the same period.
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He's half way there now and justneeds another 4 years to finish of the country, the socialist Communist swine.
NOBAMA 2012
Social Security, Medicare, public schools and libraries, taxpayer funded military, fire and police and well maintained streets are NOT signs of socialism unless you listen to failed idiots like Grover Norquist, Paul Ryan, Ronald Reagan or the radical extremists like the Republicons in Congress.
I can hardly believe that we progressives actually have to teach such obvious stuff to our fellow citizens. But the pathetic ignorance is real and education has to be done.
Romney reminds me of the carpetbagger in the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales." His elixer cures everything.
Romney and his wife are so plastic they should be credit cards.
Romney earned his money the hard way, he inherited it from his Dad who was president of American Motor Corporation. Remember their hot seller, the "Gremlin."
This election will be a referendum on Obama's handling of the economy, and a battle between those who want 'opportunity' versus those who want 'dependency'.
The GOP let lobbyists write laws under Bush. Do we really want that to come back as the std process?! People DON'T want lobbyists running Washington!!
No problem...Obama is the master of the 'deficit'. Who knows, he may even issue Obama-bonds (which would promptly be downgraded).
So in other words, the smaller operation has been more efficient at accomplishing its goal, whereas the larger operation has been less efficient...these are the same philosophies the candidates apply toward the operation of government.
But at the end of the day, neither side can complain about the spending of the other. Its like the Red Sox complaining about the Yankees...the Red Sox forfeited that argument when their payroll blew up to $175million several years back.
LOL!
He has been doing that with the tax payers money for almost 4 years now!