Romney beats Obama in fundraising for first time
WASHINGTON ( AP) — Mitt Romney and the Republican Party surged ahead of US President Barack Obama in
fundraising for the first time, a key development at a time when many liberals among the Democrats have become frustrated with the president.
Romney and his party raised more than $76 million in May, the campaign said Thursday, while Obama’s campaign reported the Democratic Party raised $60 million for the month.
That’s a significant in
crease for Romney: he and the Republicans brought in $ 40 million in April — short of the $43.6 million that Obama and his party raised that month.
The fundraising numbers signal a new stage in the campaign as Romney capitalizes
on his emergence as the party’s standard-bearer and as Obama is forced to confront the political implications of a weak economic recovery and increasing frustration among Democratic
Party liberals.
Many of the some 2,700 par
ticipants Thursday at Netroots Nation — described by the annual convention as ``a giant
family reunion for the left’’ — believe Obama has not fought hard enough for progressive
priorities on taxes, health care and the economy.
With the election just five months away, some are threatening not to donate money or time or even vote in November for the man who ignited their passions and captured their imaginations four years ago.
“I want to be happy with him,’’ said Democrat Kristine Vaughan, a 45-year-old school psychologist. ``But I am find- ing that he has succumbed to the corporate influence as much as everyone else.’’
Polls show the president
locked in a tight race that’s likely to be decided in several swing states where he scored narrow victories four years ago.
States including Ohio, Florida
and Virginia are expected to be
very competitive, and Obama needs liberal supporters to aid the campaign and turn out in droves on election day.
Besides topping Obama in May fundraising, Romney is getting a significant boost from Republican- leaning super political action committees that have raised far more and spent far more than their Democratic- leaning counterparts.
Romney, campaigning Thursday in Missouri, stepped up his criticism of Obama in a speech at a factory in St. Louis. He accused Obama not only
of a failure of policy, but of ``a moral failure of tragic proportions.’’