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| By Jesse Merkel |
Read it and weep.
The July fundraising numbers are out, and for the second straight month the Romney campaign has blown expectations wide open. Mitt Romney and the RNC helped to raise over $101.3 million during the month of July. Evidently, the Romney campaign missed the memo that the summer months traditionally have been slow for challengers to raise money.
A total of 600,627 donations received by the campaign over the last month were in the amount of $250 or less. That number is equivalent to 94% of all donations, showing that the vast majority of people contributing to the Romney campaign are small donors. While their contribution only totals up to $25.7 million, it stills shatters the stereotype that only the Democrats have access to small donors.
In June, Romney and the RNC outraised Obama and the DNC by $35 million, prompting a slew of desperate e-mails from the Obama campaign. Maybe this time around they can include a gif of little cup that says "alms for the poor."
It is extremely rare that an incumbent is outraised by a challenger in any presidential cycle. Upon seeing these once again impressive numbers put out by the Romney campaign, Obama and his top campaign staff may once again need to call George Clooney, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Will Ferrell to come to the rescue with more fancy fundraising dinners, because if there is one thing the Obama campaign has learned, it's that the American people love seeing rich celebrities and media personalities flaunt their wealth for their boyfriend Barack.
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Fans of President Obama will of course point out that Romney has had fundraisers with rich pals as well. The difference is of course that Romney's pals do more than make movies and revel in their own greatness.
The Obama campaign also released their numbers for the month of July in great fanfare. The tweet released this morning announced a haul of $75 million. Oh well, better to trail by $25 million instead of $35 million?
Another thing that the Romney campaign has to its advantage is that it currently has over $185.9 million dollars on hand, and has not been spending more than it takes in. The Obama campaign on the other hand has been spending in record amounts, running up deficits and wondering why they are not further along than they are. (Sound familiar?) Romney could actually stop taking money and still have over $60 million to spend each month until the election.
Right now, Romney can only spend campaign money. After the GOP convention in Tampa this month when he officially becomes the party nominee, he'll be able to spend a great deal more, especially in vital swing states.When you factor in that campaigns almost always make more after their conventions than they do during the summer, Obama could find himself up against an even more formidable machine that he does currently.
It's becoming clear that Romney may be taking a page from Muhammad Ali's playbook. While Obama has been punching himself out with little to show for it over the past few months, Romney has been showing tasteful restraint, preparing for what could end up being tantamount to political rope-a-dope.
It was the message Romney projected during the entire primary season: "Even if you don't like me that much, vote for me for the weaponry I'll be using against President Obama."
It was widely speculated that Romney was the candidate that Obama wanted to face off again. Some analysts have pointed out that Obama harbors a true dislike for the former Massachusetts Governor, but it was also assumed that Romney would be the easiest to beat. As always, one should be careful what you wish for. Romney may be down in a few swing state polls now, but he is rapidly climbing up in many of the nationals.
President Obama has never faced a formidable opponent before, and it's becoming clear that he really doesn't care for it all that much.
See more of Jesse Merkel here..... http://jessemerkel.policymic.com/
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