16.May.2012 Obama raises $43.6 million in April

President Obama‘s re-election campaign announced on Wednesday that it had raised $43.6 million last month, compared with $53 million in March. The data, however, does not show which proportion of the donations is destined to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and other committees. The Obama campaign has now raised some $170 million since January 1.

Campaign Manager Jim Messina stated that 98 percent of the donations amounted to $250 or less, and that the average donation was $50.23, only slightly lower than the $50.78 registered in March, but still significantly lower than the $59 announced for the month of January.

Mr. Messina also revealed that 169,600 individuals had made a donation for the first time, and that the total number of donors was fast approaching the two-million mark.

In order to encourage donors further, Mr. Messina emphasized that Mr. Obama was competing non only against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney but also against the various pro-Romney entities, such as Crossroads GPS and Restore Our Future, a super PAC which has so far spent millions of dollars to support the former governor. Crossroads will launch an $8 million TV ad on Thursday which criticizes Barack Obama‘s economic record. The 60-second ad will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In addition, Mr. Messina told Obama supporters that the president’s team was building “a winning organization across the country”. Indeed, the campaign has opened 42 new field offices, including six in Ohio, five in Florida, and four in Virginia. Furthermore, Ohio now counts 61 new team leaders and North Carolina 22, among the 120 or so who were recently hired.

Although Mr. Obama has raised some $400 million since the beginning of the campaign, easily outpacing Mr. Romney‘s fund raising total, the former Massachusetts governor said a while back that he was planning to raise as much as $800 million towards his election.