By Matea Gold, Tribune Washington Bureau –
WASHINGTON — For the third month in a row, Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign outraised the re-election effort of President Barack Obama, scooping up $101.3 million, while the president pulled in more $75 million.
The fundraising totals, announced by the campaigns Monday morning, underscore an ominous trend for Obama, who has been burning through cash in his effort to hold on to the White House.
At the end of last month, Obama’s campaign sent out increasingly urgent email missives asking supporters to contribute. One signed by the president noted that his upcoming birthday “could be the last one I celebrate as President of the United States, but that’s not up to me — it’s up to you.”
The Obama campaign said on Twitter Monday that 201,000 of those who donated in July were new contributors who had not supported his efforts earlier this year or in 2008. In all, 2.7 million people have donated since he kicked off his re-election bid in April 2011.
But those new contributors were not sufficient to overcome Romney’s momentum in the money race. His schedule in July was packed with high-priced events, including a fundraiser in London that brought in at least $2 million from American ex-pats.
On Monday, Romney’s campaign sought to stress the small donors who are backing him, saying that 600,627 contributions received in July were under $250, totaling $25.7 million.
“Once again we see that for many people, this is more than a campaign, it is a cause,” Romney Victory National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a joint statement.
The Romney campaign, the RNC and their affiliated fundraising committees ended the month with nearly $186 million on hand.
The Obama campaign declined to release its cash on hand figures, which will be made public when campaign finance reports are filed to the Federal Election Commission on Aug. 20.
At the end of June, Romney and his party allies were left with nearly $170 million on hand, while Obama and the Democrats had $147 million.
