Obama Raised $11.8 Million for Campaign in January

    President Obama raised about $11.8 million for his re-election campaign during January, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, amid signs that overall fund-raising by Mr. Obama and Democratic committees and “super PACs” has fallen behind that of their Republican counterparts

Mr. Obama remains the presidential race’s top fund-raiser: His total haul for the campaign so far is $151.4 million, slightly ahead of the pace he set in January 2008, during a hotly contested Democratic primary. He also raised $17.3 million in January for theDemocratic National Committee.

But Mr. Obama’s January total was less than a third of the $36.8 million he raised during the same month four years ago. (He also spent a third as much this time around as in January 2008.) Over all, Mr. Obama, the leading Democratic super PACs, and the party’s three federal campaign committees raised at least $366.1 million in 2011, compared with the roughly $409 million raised by the Republican presidential candidates, the top Republican super PACs and the Republican Party’s campaign committees.

In a sign of the White House’s concern about Republican fund-raising, Mr. Obama reversed himself this month and instructed administration and campaign officials to aid in fund-raising for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC founded by two former aides. This week, Mr. Obama began a three-day fund-raising swing on the West Coast that was expected to yield more than $8 million, with events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other cities. Several other big fund-raisers are scheduled for early next month in New York.

The release of President Obama’s numbers are the starting gun for fund-raising in 2012, as the candidates for president begin filing monthly reports of their finances with the Federal Election Commission, along with those super PACs that have opted for monthly filing schedules in the election year. Formal filings are due by midnight on Monday.

Mr. Obama’s fund-raising for this re-election cycle has surpassed that of President George W. Bush, one of the Republican Party’s most prolific fund-raisers. At the same point in 2004 — as an incumbent facing re-election — Mr. Bush had taken in about $145.6 million for his campaign. With no primary to fight, Mr. Obama ended January with close to $76 million in cash on hand, far more than any of his Republican rivals are likely to report.

Mr. Obama has also exploited one of the perks of an incumbent president: the ability to raise checks for his party’s main campaign committee in amounts of up to $30,800 per donor per year, far more than the $5,000 his campaign can accept from each donor for the cycle.

The Democratic National Committee raised $117 million in 2011, ahead of the $105 million raised by the Republican National Committee, according to a study released on Friday by the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. The D.N.C.’s haul was more than the Republican National Committee raised in 2005 and 2003, when Mr. Bush was president.

More than a third of the D.N.C.’s donors in 2011 gave the committee more than $30,000, suggesting that Mr. Obama helped significantly buoy its fund-raising.

The Republican National Committee raised almost half of its money from donors giving $200 or less, compared with 27 percent for the Democratic National Committee, according to the study. That finding suggests that while Mr. Obama continues to raise significant amounts for his campaign from Democratic grass-roots donors, Republican grass-roots donors are turning to the Republican National Committee while the party’s presidential candidates duke it out in the primary.

Source New York Times