Obama 2012 campaign breaks goal, records

The campaign to re-elect US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday it raised $86 million from April to June, exceeding its $60 million quarterly target and eclipsing Republican White House contenders. Obama's 2012 campaign said it received donations from more than 552,000 people, with what it called "more grassroots support at this point in the process than any campaign in political history."
In keeping with Obama's 2008 winning strategy of tapping small donations, 98 percent of donations in the second quarter were $250 or less, with an average donation of around $69, campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video to supporters. The figures confirm that Obama, a Democrat who raised a record $745 million in cash during 2008, has started the 2012 race as the cash leader despite worries about the US economy and criticism from some fellow Democrats that he has tilted to the right in US debt talks.
"They have smashed all records," said Chris Arterton, a political management professor at George Washington University. "I think it is quite dramatic." Despite the impressive number of small donations, Arterton believes a greater share of total campaign cash will come from big donors. The campaign did not break down the amount raised by donations of $250 or less.
In 2008, one third of the $337 million Obama raised in the general election came from individual donors giving $200 or less. But 42 percent - the biggest portion of individual givers to Obama's general election campaign - were from those who gave $1,000 or more, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney raised $18.25 million from April to June, and most other Republican hopefuls for the White House raised between $4 million and $4.5 million in the quarter. Of the total raised for Obama in the second quarter, more than $47 million went to the "Obama for America" fund and more than $38 million went to the Democratic National Committee.