But the Obama team was clearly delighted with its operation, sending a tweet from the official @BarackObama campaign account calling the haul “huge news.”
“No celebrating, because they’re going to have an even bigger September, but now we know we can match them, doing this our way,” the Twitter feed said.
A senior Obama aide said on Friday that Romney and supportive outside groups were outspending the president’s campaign in television advertising in some key markets in swing states by more than two to one.
The Obama campaign, which has spent heavily in recent months on negative ads designed to define Romney and to build a huge grass roots movement designed to turn out the vote in November.
Obama’s unexpected cash bonanza comes as he enjoys a post-Democratic National Convention bounce in the polls, leading Republican Romney by five points Sunday in the Gallup daily tracking poll.
Obama’s August haul total and his strong position in national polls and in battleground states will likely cement a narrative, that for now, at least, the president is ahead of Romney less than two months before election day.
That will pile pressure on Republican presidential nominee Romney to check Obama’s momentum in three presidential debates next month.
Messina said that the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee had raised $114 million from 1.1 million donors giving an average of $58 in August.
In a figure that will cheer the Obama camp, more than 317,000 new donors signed up to the campaign in the month.
In a figure that will cheer the Obama camp, more than 317,000 new donors signed up to the campaign in the month.
More than three million people have contributed to the campaign so far.
In a monthly report for July filed with the Federal Election Commission, Obama claimed reserves of $124 million divided between the president’s campaign and his Democratic Party.
At the same time, the Romney campaign said it had $186 million on hand. Neither total took into account August fundraising, and both campaigns spent heavily during the month as the election race heated up.
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