Campaign Fund-raising, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

Republican Mitt Romney and allied party committees entered the election homestretch with a $45 million cash advantage over President Obama and the Democratic Party, new campaign reports show.

The 2012 presidential campaign passed the $2 billion mark in fundraising Thursday, fueled by an outpouring of cash from both ordinary citizens and the wealthiest Americans hoping to influence the selection of the country's next leader.

President Obama's campaign picked up $82.4 million in donations in September. Celebrity donors included director Joss Whedon and songwriting legend Burt Bacharach.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign says it raised $170.4 million in September. The figure brings Romney's fundraising effort slightly behind President Barack Obama's $181 million haul for the month. It leaves Romney, the Republican Party and related groups with $191 million in the bank to spend during the final full month of the campaign.

However, Romney's strong showing in Denver did little to convince more voters he understands them or is a "good person," according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Saturday... On the broad question of who they will vote for in November, Obama kept his 2 percentage point lead among likely voters - 47 percent to 45 percent - in the online survey.

President Barack Obama's campaign and its Democratic allies raised a record $181 million in September for the president's re-election effort, adding to a fundraising haul that could prove crucial in the final stretch of the White House race.

Billionaire financier George Soros has given $1 million to the primary super PAC helping President Obama. The funding is a boost to Priorities USA Action in the final weeks of the campaign.

Native American tribes, wielding new clout with casino income, are betting strongly on Obama's reelection. At a July fundraiser in the elegant Mandarin Oriental hotel near Washington's Tidal Basin, President Obama met with some of his most steadfast supporters — two dozen political and business leaders eager to write sizable checks to help keep him in the White House.

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.

Americans don't like all the cash that's going to super political action committees and other outside groups that are pouring millions of dollars into races for president and Congress.