Obama raised $11.8 million for campaign last month

President has raised a total of $151.4M so far for his re-election, as filing begins.

By Nicholas Confessore and Derek Willis
New York Times

Posted: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at Boeing's 787 airplane assembly facility in Everett, Wash., Friday. "The tide is turning. The tide is beginning to turn our way," Obama said to hundreds of cheering workers. Ken Lambert - MCT

More Information

President Barack Obama on Friday called for more steps to help U.S. companies compete overseas, standing in front of an enormous Boeing Dreamliner to summon a bright future for American manufacturing and exports.

Visiting a Boeing plant in Washington state where he watched 787s under assembly, Obama pushed for Congress to continue financing a national export credit agency crucial to a goal of doubling exports by 2014. He pointed to the aviation giant as a homegrown company bolstering the U.S. economy by doing business overseas as he sought to make the case that the nation's economy is on the rise. Associated PRess

EVERETT, Wash. President Barack Obama raised about $11.8 million for his re-election campaign during January, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, amid signs that overall fundraising by Obama and Democratic committees and super PACs has fallen behind that of their Republican counterparts.

Obama remains the presidential race's top fundraiser: His total haul for the campaign so far is $151.4 million, slightly ahead of the pace he set in January 2008, during a hotly contested Democratic primary. He also raised $17.3 million in January for the Democratic National Committee.

But Obama's January total is less than a third of the $36.8 million he raised during the same month four years ago. (He also spent a third as much this time around as in January 2008.)

Overall, Obama, the leading Democratic super PACs, and the party's three federal campaign committees raised at least $366.1 million in 2011, compared with the roughly $409 million raised by the Republican presidential candidates, the top Republican super PACs and the Republican Party's campaign committees.

In a sign of the White House's concern about Republican fundraising, Obama reversed himself this month and instructed administration and campaign officials to aid in fundraising for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC founded by two former aides. This week, Obama began a three-day fundraising swing on the West Coast that was expected to yield more than $8 million.

The release of Obama's numbers is the starting gun for fundraising in 2012, as the candidates for president begin filing monthly reports of their finances with the Federal Election Commission, along with those super PACs that have opted for monthly filing schedules in the election year. Formal filings are due by midnight Monday.

Obama's fundraising for this re-election cycle has surpassed that of President George W. Bush, one of the Republican Party's most prolific fundraisers.

At the same point in 2004 - as an incumbent facing re-election - Bush had taken in about $145.6 million for his campaign. With no primary to fight, Obama ended January with close to $76 million in cash on hand, far more than any of his Republican rivals are likely to report.

Subscribe to The Charlotte Observer.