POLITICO.COM : Obama is going to raise more money than anybody has ever raised running for president. He is going to outgun Republicans. - Democrats will play in every state, the Republican nominee, whomever that will be, will be restrained by the resources

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493,697 individual donors gave money to the Obama campaign this quarter. Barack Obama’s bully pulpit is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in free airtime. Obama is doing better than Republicans at Fundraisers.

POLITICO.COM
Mitt Romney fundraising sparks Republican fears
By JONATHAN MARTIN & ALEXANDER BURNS
July 7, 2011


Mitt Romney fundraising sparks Republican fears


Some excerpts :

The Republican presidential fundraising reports are still coming in, but a clear winner has already emerged: President Barack Obama.

Whoever claims the GOP nomination is going to find it close to impossible to keep pace with the president’s fundraising juggernaut.

That was the lesson of the first real quarter of the money chase, when it was revealed Wednesday that Republican front-runner Mitt Romney — the GOP’s pale version of a cash-collecting machine — raised just over $18 million. (See: Mitt Romney's warning signs)

Romney’s haul was less than what he took in as a first-time candidate out of the gates four years ago. Behind the former Massachusetts governor, the numbers tailed off dramatically. Neither Tim Pawlenty nor Jon Huntsman even hit $5 million. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee is mired in $18.5 million of debt.

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Well-connected Republicans say other third-party entities could still emerge to boost the party’s nominee.

Until then, GOP insiders are reassuring themselves by arguing that money won’t ultimately be dispositive, the state of the economy will trump any fundraising advantage enjoyed by Obama and that the prospect of beating the president will matter more than their nominee.

One party veteran recalled just how many Bush donors who despised John McCain nevertheless rallied around the Arizona senator after he won the nomination in 2008.

“People I thought would never give to McCain showed up,” the Republican noted.

“There’s plenty of people out there who are really, really fired up to try to win the election and defeat Obama,” Black said, adding: “We won’t raise as much as the president, but we won’t need as much.”

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