The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
48°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Romney campaign outraises Obama

Bexar County delegates James Duncan and his wife, Naomi, look over Romney T-shirts at the Texas Republican Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday. (Associated Press)
Morgan Little Tribune Washington bureau

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign reached a significant milestone Thursday, surpassing President Barack Obama’s fundraising efforts for the first time with $76.8 million raised in May alone.

Obama’s campaign announced that it and the Democratic National Committee had raised more than $60 million.

In the second month of joint fundraising between Romney’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, 93 percent of donations were of $250 of less, totaling 297,442 individuals. That led to a grand total of more than 319,800 donors for Romney, compared with the more than 572,000 who donated to Obama and the DNC in May. Ninety-eight percent of donations to the president and the DNC were $250 or less.

The Romney campaign now has $107 million cash on hand, while Obama and the DNC have yet to release their total.

“We are encouraged by the financial support from a broad range of voters,” Romney finance chairman Spencer Zwick said. “To them, whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, a first-time political donor or a former Obama donor, this is not just a campaign, it’s an opportunity for the country.”

Obama and Romney were nearly neck-and-neck in fundraising in April, with $43.6 and $40.1 million respectively, but Romney and the RNC’s month-to-month increase of $36.7 million more than doubled that of the president and the DNC.

Obama’s May total was boosted by a fundraiser hosted by George Clooney that brought in as much as $15 million from attendees and online donors hoping to win a spot on the guest list.

Also propelling the month’s fundraising was the president’s support for gay marriage, announced in a television interview last month. The endorsement set off a wave of donations from same-sex marriage supporters.