After having been on the receiving end of a continuing barrage of advertising by opposing "super" political groups, and spending $100 million on his own attack adds, Barry's re-election campaign spent more than it collected in June. While out-raised again by Republican Mitt Romney, Barry was still able to end the month with $97.5 million in the bank. June was the second consecutive month in which Romney brought in more money than Barry, at least that what finance reports filed on Friday show. Romney's money advantage prompted Barry's campaign advisers to warn earlier this month that the president could lose the election if the financial disparity continued.
Barry tried to answer the super PACs supporting Romney by spending $38.2 million on television advertising. Romney spent less than a third of that, $10.4 million, on TV time. Romney's campaign nearly doubled its spending in June compared with the previous month, underscoring the close proximity of the November general election in which Republicans hope to unseat Barry “Almighty” and, in part, dismantle the president's signature health care overhaul. Much of Romney's financial advantage, he raised $106 million last month with the help of the Republican Party, came from larger donations in a handful of battleground states. In Florida, the Romney Victory Fund pulled in about $4.4 million.
Demonstrating a definite preference for operating from the gutter, Barry has proceeded to pull out all the stops in his attempt to portray Romney as being appearing to be a worse choice than would re-electing himself. And in so doing, Barry reported more than $46 million in June and total spending of $58 million. The Democrat Party reported $37.5 million in the bank. Romney, during the same period, reported receipts of $33 million and spending of $27.5 million for June. The challenger's cash on hand was almost a mirror image of Barry's and the DNC's, as Romney reported $22.5 million in the bank and the Republican National Committee said it had $89.4 million.
Romney retains a vast advantage overall when super PACs working in the former Massachusetts governor's favor are factored in. Groups like American Crossroads and Restore Our Future have already spent tens of millions of dollars on pricey television ads to either attack Barry or specifically promote Romney's candidacy. Wealthy, repeat donors are helping independent Republican groups maintain their financial strength. They include casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who donated a combined $10 million last month; and Texas homebuilder Bob Perry, one of the largest GOP super PAC donors, who gave another $2 million on June 1.
For Barry's part, a handful of super PACs helping his re-election pulled in a combined $25 million in June. Those contributions included a $1 million contribution to Priorities USA Action from actor Morgan Freeman, who joined a list of Hollywood figures like Steven Spielberg trying to help Barry secure a second term. Beyond the dollar amounts, the president's campaign released an updated list of big-dollar fundraisers, known as "bundlers," who have collected at least $50,000 toward his re-election. Barry named 638 bundlers, adding 106 more to his total earlier this year. Romney does not list his bundlers, even though he has received repeated calls during the campaign to identify them.
Both candidates enjoyed a wide swath of contributions from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, although Romney's financial reports listed higher dollar amounts in key battleground states like Florida, Michigan and New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Barry tends to receive more contributions dollar-wise from donors who give less than $200; such small amounts do not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission. But before we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of seeing this money disparity as being some kind of harbinger of things to come, let’s not forget Barry has some very rich benefactors in his back pocket. Billionaires with names like Soros, Buffett and Lewis. These guys can, and at a moments notice, all drop very significant amounts of money into Barry’s pot.
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