Campaign Fund-raising, Campaign Funds | featured news

A Las Vegas billionaire with ties to Newt Gingrich has given $5 million to an independent group backing the former House Speaker's presidential bid.

President Barack Obama's campaign set a goal of raising $60 million in the fourth quarter of the year to benefit the Democratic incumbent's re-election and the Democratic National Committee, a campaign official said on Saturday.

He shouldn't have to concede any states for lack of money – and he already has raised more than his Republican rivals combined. His approval ratings are down and the economic recovery is sputtering. But President Obama brings to the 2012 campaign one strategic advantage that previous Democratic presidential candidates would have envied: the money to compete everywhere.

Apparently "9-9-9" is good for about $3 million. That's how much money Herman Cain says he's raised in the month of October alone as financial support begins to match a spike in the polls that is defying political gravity.

A stark financial divide is opening up between two groups of Republican candidates for president, with the top candidates together bringing in tens of millions of dollars in their bids for the presidency and a second tier struggling to attract major donors and in some cases even crack the million-dollar mark.

President Obama overcame low poll numbers to collect $42.8 million in the July-to-September fundraising quarter, racing ahead of his Republican rivals who must marshal their resources for a fast-changing primary calendar. Obama also raised $27.3 million for the Democratic National Committee for a combined $70.1 million during the third quarter, his campaign announced Thursday. That's a drop from the $86 million the president and national party raised in the previous quarter.

A new "super" political action committee supportive of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has raised more than $12 million, drawing on big-dollar donations to help the former Republican governor in his bid for the White House.

Mitt Romney leads all Republicans in the contest for campaign cash, cementing his frontrunner status among contenders hoping to go up against President Barack Obama in 2012....

President Obama's re-election campaing claimed more than 475,000 donors during the most recent quarter, but did not announce the amount of money ...

New York retiree Phyllis Hornung has never been to Minnesota and has no ties to the state - other than the steady stream of campaign donations she sends to Michele Bachmann....