Obama’s Money Worries

The race for cash has just started for good in the U.S. presidential campaign. Now rid of his opponents, Mitt Romney can now concentrate on the presidential campaign and on Barack Obama. On his side of things, the 44th has been for months focusing a good portion of his efforts on raising funds. The 2012 campaign promises to beat all the records with the debut of super PACs.

The Romney campaign is embarking on a massive fundraiser that aims to raise, before the beginning of the campaign in September, a whooping $600 million. And this is only a portion of the funds that will be eaten up by the campaign. The super PACs and the unions, for Obama, will also raise millions. The Romney clan has planned dozens of fundraisers, evenings that bring in big donors, with the goal of raising $1 million a night. The pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, already raised $43 million and plans to bring in at least $100 million. The director of Restore Our Future is also responsible for another super PAC, American Crossroads, that should raise $300 million. In this war of money, all major Republican donors have been involved, including Sheldon Adelson, who gave $16 million to the Newt Gingrich campaign, and the Koch brothers, multimillionaires who financed the tea party.

Obama, who had collected $750 million in 2008, must beat his previous record. During his last campaign, he spent four times as much as his opponent, John McCain. To date, he has organized 100 “fundraisers.”

However, Obama is facing an unplanned obstacle: A severe drop in contributions from big donors from his previous campaign, which is forcing him to turn more and more toward his citizen support base. He is behind on his fundraising objectives compared to 2008, causing his party to worry right at the moment when Republicans are rearing to go.

Obama had raised $250 million in March 2008, compared to today’s $196 million.

The reasons for this drop stem from the lack of primaries for the Democratic Party, which incites enthusiasm and mobilizes supporters. But also, from the four-year war with Wall Street. The current goal of the Obama campaign is to raise $70 million a month until November, a huge amount, which means triple the current revenues. The race to the White House will beat all fundraising records. The next Congress might re-evaluate this absurd race that makes the candidates bend to special interests.