Obama raises $29 million for campaign
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama raised $29.1 million for his campaign and for the Democratic Party in January, a strong fund-raising month that put him ahead of the pace he set in the last quarter of 2011.
In a Twitter message Friday morning, the Obama campaign announced the president raised the money for his re-election effort, for the Democratic National Committee and related committees. The campaign raises money directly from donors and through fund that splits proceeds with party efforts devoted to Obama’s re-election.
The month’s haul raises Obama’s total combined fund-raising for this election cycle to about $250 million. In the last three months of 2011, he averaged about $23 million a month.
The Obama campaign did not immediately provide a breakdown of the January fund-raising but said 98 percent of the January donations were $250 or less.
Many of those donors, however, are repeat contributors, meaning that their aggregate donations over the past year would exceed $250. The Campaign Finance Institute, which analyzes contributions, found that small donors, those whose contributions totaled less than $200, accounted for 48 percent of Obama’s campaign income in 2011.
That more than doubles the small donor contributions to his campaign in 2007, as he mounted his bid for president. The institute found that small donors accounted for 9 percent of 2011 fund-raising for Republican Mitt Romney, who is battling for front-runner status in the GOP presidential primary and is the top fund-raiser in the Republican contest.
Obama also relies on a team of more than 440 supporters who raise money for him, including 61 people who each raised at least half a million dollars. Those top dollar fund-raisers collected at least $75 million last year to help Obama win a second term.
Presidential candidates must submit January fund-raising reports to the Federal Election Commission today.
