Campaign Fund-raising, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

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.

Wall Street is paying big time to influence this election. The financial industry is on track to break its 2008 campaign spending record of $170 million, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics cited by CNNMoney. So far, Wall Street has spent $164 million donating to candidates and political groups, and CRP estimates the final tally of Wall Street cash will reach $2.5 billion.

The Associated Press has learned that Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has raised at least $100 million in August for the third consecutive month.

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.

A little more than a year ago, Frank VanderSloot contributed $1million to a "super PAC" supporting Mitt Romney. Now, the Idaho-based health products executive is a sought-after donor at the Republican National Convention as he makes the rounds of independent groups backing the GOP ticket.

Mitt Romney's success in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the costliest presidential race ever can be traced in part to a secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information - including their purchasing history and church attendance - to identify new and likely, wealthy donors, The Associated Press has learned....

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."

Candidates may raise the unprecedented sums of political cash being funneled through Super PACs this year, and media strategists may decide how to spend them – but the people who actually wind up pocketing much of the money are America's television broadcasters. Since the Supreme Court voided limits on political donations in Citizens United, more money than ever is being devoted to negative TV ads. Industry analysts predict that upwards of $3 billion will be spent on political advertising this year – a surge of more than $500 million over 2008.

Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee say they netted more than $101 million last month... The campaign says Romney, the RNC and state GOP parties have nearly $186 million in cash on hand.