July's figures are in and the same pattern was repeated.
Obama for America spent nearly $59 million last month while raising $49 million, according to federal campaign finance reports filed Monday. (Source- Politico)
When added with money Obama and the DNC collected and spent together, those figures show they still spent more than they collected.
Mr. Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee spent $91 million in July, significantly more than the $75 million the Democrats raised..... (Source- New York Times)
In the same time frame, Mitt Romney spent considerably less than Obama on his campaign. Romney also spent less than he brought in with fundraising efforts, which topped Obama's money haul for three straight months in a row.
This has left the Romney campaign with a huge cash advantage heading into the final months of the 2012 campaign season.
Romney led Obama in cash on hand at the end of July $185.9 million to $123.7 million, according to numbers released by the Romney campaign and filed with the FEC by Obama’s campaign. (Source- Washington Post)
Here is the chart from Wapo's The Fix, visually showing the dramatic change in the cash on hand for the two campaigns, since March:
Also the NYT (linked above) notices that Romney spent half on advertising than Obama did. This has also been the pattern over the last few months.
In summary: Obama again followed his pattern of spending more than he brought in, Romney didn't. Obama spent more than double what Romney has to date. Romney now has a huge cash advantage of cash on hand in the months leading up to the November presidential election.
Where has all this left the two candidates?
According to Real Clear Politics averages, Obama is ahead of Romney by 2.5 percent. (Note- Those numbers change as new polling data is added)
Notice that out of the last three polls listed at RCP, that were released after Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, two of the three have Romney above Obama by one and two percentage points. One has Obama ahead by one percentage point.
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| Click to enlarge- RCP screen shot, 8/21/12 |
Obama and the DNC have spent months throwing everything they had at Mitt Romney, in fact, they have literally thrown more than what they were bringing in, yet the race is close to a statistical tie and within the margins of error of the polls conducted since August 11, 2012 when Ryan was announced as Romney's vice presidential running mate.
Romney has weathered the worst of the Obama storm and now Romney is positioned to outspend Obama heading towards the finish line.
Question to ponder: Can Obama weather the Romney storm heading his way as well as Romney weathered his?