Obama's Reelection Campaign Only Brought in $43.6 Million April

Reuters
Alexander Abad-Santos May 16, 2012

In some not-so-good news for the Obama and his team, the president's reelection campaign announced today that it and the DNC raised just $43.6 million in April after raising $53 million in March. Yes, that's still a gigantic chunk of money and according to campaign manager Jim Messina (via Reuters' Jeff Mason) Obama is still on track to raise as—if not  more than—the $750 million he secured in 2008.  But the April dip, as Mason notes, came at a time when Mitt Romney seemingly locked up the Republican nomination with Santorum suspending his campaign on April 10. Common sense would have Obama raising more money as the election heats up right? Certainly not the other way around.

Messina released a video (below) today announcing the numbers and hammering home that the president made a lot of money thanks to small donations (a running theme of the campaign which they believe reflects the president's reach to the middle class), but perhaps more telling was his focus on Super PACs and the $57 million spent since October on Obama attack ads. “The Koch bothers-funded Super PAC spent $6 million on TV ads attacking the president. Mitt Romney’s Super PAC put another $4 million on the air," Messina says in the video. 

If you're thinking about those crazy figures Obama raised with his support of same sex marriage ($1 million in 90 minutes) or the $15 million raised with the help of a George Clooney party--both those events will show up when the campaign releases its May figures. 

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