Mitt Romney and the GOP raised $40.1 million in April, falling a bit short of the $43.6 million raised by the Obama and the Democratic Party, the New York Times reported.
Ninety-five percent of Romney's donations were $250 or less. This is a huge step forward, as it opens up repeated donations from smaller donors, rather than maxing out on the wealthy. By comparison, Romney had 84 percent from this category in March, while Obama had 96 percent. Romney also has $61.4 million cash on hand, according to the Business Insider.
The infusion comes none too soon, Patrick O'Connor notes at the Wall Street Journal, since "The Obama campaign has a six-month head start in building infrastructure and is the midst of a $25 million ad campaign to tout the president’s record since taking office. Mr. Romney will need every dollar he can generate to keep pace."
But he won't have to do it all alone. A conservative Super PAC has already stepped up to match Obama's ad buy, spending $25 million in 10 battleground states on an ad attacking the president's economic and policy record, Matea Gold at the Los Angeles Times reported.
"Crossroads GPS — along with its sister 'super PAC,' American Crossroads — is the biggest among a network of conservative groups that have led the charge against Obama on the airwaves. Together, the two Crossroads groups aim to spend $300 million for the 2012 campaign," Gold wrote.
Eric Schulzke writes on national politics for the Deseret News. He can be contacted at eschulzke@desnews.com.