Obama: Gold Medal in Fundraising

While the Republicans beat the firearms sales record the day after Thanksgiving (the aptly named “Black Friday”), probably to prepare for the end of the world, as predicted by the voices of paranoia — the tea party — Barack Obama was publishing his campaign accounts. Future White House candidates will have a hard time beating the vertigo-inducing statistics.

For his two 2008 and 2012 campaigns, the 44th raised a whopping 1.4 billion dollars. In the final two weeks of his campaign, Obama raised 88 million dollars and spent 176 million. Half of this amount was invested in television spots. Romney, during this same period from Oct. 18 and Nov. 6, raised 66 million and spent 107. Between April 4 and Election Day, Obama spent twice as much as his fundraising-savvy rival: 723 million to Romney’s 460 million.

In spite of the state of the economy and some disenchantment, Obama raised only 20 million dollars less than he did in 2008 — an amazing feat.

For much of the campaign, Obama’s camp played on the fear of being beaten in fundraising by the Republicans. A large part of the money (690 million) was collected online. One message sent to supporters was entitled “I will be outspent” and was among the most profitable, raising more than 2.5 million dollars.

However, if we include the funds gathered by “super PACs” and other committees, Romney raised more than Barack Obama. With the various groups associated with his campaign, Mitt Romney spent the modest sum of 1.51 billion dollars. The sum total of funding swallowed up by the Democrats’ campaign was 1.43 billion dollars.

In October, Obama crossed the symbolic line of a billion dollars.