Romney, GOP outraise Obama and Democrats again in June

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney's announcement Monday that he and the Republican Party had outraised President Obama for the second month in a row and ended June with a whopping $160 million in cash reserves set off new alarms inside Obama's campaign.

By Charles Dharapak, AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Washington last month.

By Charles Dharapak, AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Washington last month.

Although Obama and Democrats raised $71 million in June, "we still got beat. Handily," Ann Marie Habershaw, the campaign's chief operating officer, said in an e-mail imploring supporters to give as little as $3. If Obama loses to Romney in November, she wrote, "it will be because we didn't close the gap enough when we had the chance."

Although the Obama campaign did not release its cash-on-hand total Monday, the Romney announcement shows a highly competitive battle for campaign money four months from the November election.

The $106 million raised by Romney and the Republican National Committee in June doesn't count proceeds from Romney's trio of high-profile weekend fundraisers at the homes of energy billionaire David Koch, financier Cliff Sobel and businessman Ronald Perelman on Long Island, N.Y.

Romney finance chairman Spencer Zwick said the GOP's fundraising advantage "is a statement from voters that they want a change of direction in Washington."

Romney's haul is a sign Republican donors are quickly coming to his aid, after he effectively secured the nomination in May, following a protracted primary battle. It also marks a setback for Obama, who broke fundraising records as a candidate in 2008, but has warned recently he could be the first sitting president to be outspent in his re-election. In addition to Romney's growing fundraising strength, an array of GOP-affiliated outside groups have pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat Obama.

By Susan Walsh, AP

President Obama and the Democratic Party raised $71 million in June, far less than Republicans.

Just days ago, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina warned that the growing money gap "could cost us the election."

Obama and Romney each claimed broad financial support.

Obama's camp said more than 706,000 people had donated last month. Romney and the RNC said more than 536,000 donations came in amounts smaller than $250 — accounting for about one-fifth of its June fundraising haul. Romney's campaign said it raised more than $4 million from more than 40,000 donors in the 24 hours after Supreme Court ruled Obama's health care law constitutional last month.

Romney opposes that law and vows to repeal it.

Typically, money raised online comes in smaller increments.

By contrast, the suggested donation at the fundraiser held at the Koch home was $75,000 per couple, according to the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, which tracks campaign money. The event at the beachfront estate drew protests, some from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

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