Barack Obama, Campaign Fund-raising | featured news

A month and a half before Election Day, President Obama is winning, former President Bill Clinton said Sunday, citing a raft of recent polls that show Obama widening a lead in several key swing states.

President Obama in August raised more money than challenger Mitt Romney for the first time in three months, a sign that the Republican spending advantage in the fall could be smaller than previously thought.

Just minutes after the end of the Republican convention, President Obama appealed to his supporters for campaign cash. "Tonight was their night," Obama wrote in an e-mail. "But our focus must be on tomorrow." And presumably next week, when Obama and the Democrats hold their own convention in Charlotte.

All the political attention might be focused on Republicans or even Tropical Storm Isaac, but that's not stopping President Obama from asking for more campaign money. In a new fundraising e-mail today geared to the swing state of Iowa, Obama says he's losing "the air war" and needs $5 or more from donors to pay for more campaign commercials.

President Obama's campaign is claiming another first: Donations by text message. The campaign said today that Obama supporters with smartphones can contribute up to $50 by texting "GIVE" to the number 62262.

With a nod to his basketball star host, Michael Jordan, President Barack Obama used a sports analogy at a fundraiser in New York on Wednesday to describe the election campaign and his opponents, who he said played "dirty."

Mitt Romney’s campaign has improved its fund-raising from small donors, helping to build an advantage in money available after the two parties hold their nominating conventions.

Morgan Freeman donated $1 million last month to Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting President Obama.

The Democratic National Convention is reportedly having trouble with its fundraising about two months before the party faithful gather in Charlotte to renominate President Obama. The Washington Post reports the host committee has raised about $20 million and is about $16 million shy of its goal. The story cites unnamed sources, describing them as "several people familiar with the internal discussions."

The Obama campaign on Tuesday shrugged off reports showing that Republican challenger Mitt Romney outpaced the president by $35 million in contributions last month, even after firing off a dire message to donors warning of defeat in November if fundraising doesn’t improve... Obama representatives also blasted the Republican super PACs. “You’ve got a few very wealthy people running around trying to purchase the White House for Mr. Romney,” White House senior adviser David Plouffe told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.