The Obama campaign has put out an “urgent” request for donations in the wake of the Romney campaign’s announcement that it brought in more than $100 million in June.
“For context, that’s what we raised in April and May combined,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina writes in the fundraising e-mail. “We’re still tallying our numbers, but this means their gap is getting wider, and if it continues at this pace, it could cost us the election.”
An earlier analysis by Red Alert Poltics found that Obama campaign spent $148 million during the first half of 2012 even though Obama lacked a challenger, with most of its spending going to salaries, including a $9,682.56 payment to Messina himself.
The e-mail asks donors to send donations of $3 or more to reverse the campaign’s fundraising gap, while raising the specter of money flowing in from the Koch brothers, casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Karl Rove and others in the wake of the Citizens United decision.
“If we don’t take this seriously now, we risk finding ourselves at a point where there is too much ground to make up,” Messina writes. “We need to do something about it. Today.”
