Obama spends more in May than he raises

President collects $39.1M, while Romney pulls in $23.4M

WASHINGTON — Fighting to keep his job, President Obama spent more money than he raised in May, and ended the month with a $109.7 million in cash reserves — a more than 6-to-1 advantage over his Republican rival Mitt Romney, federal reports filed Wednesday show.

Obama, who has been able to accumulate cash as Romney fended off primary challengers, spent three times more in May than he did in April.

That reflects new investments in staff — a total of 703 campaign workers in May, up from 631 a month earlier — and the barrage of television commercials in battleground states that have touted his record and slammed presumptive GOP nominee Romney’s business career.

Nearly half of the contributions to Obama’s main campaign account last month came from donors who gave $200 or less. He will need to tap those contributors again as he tries to match Romney’s fundraising, which surged ahead of Obama’s last month for the first time. A quarter of Romney’s May donations came in small amounts.

Romney and the Republican Party reported collecting $76.8 million in May, nearly $17 million more than Obama and the Democratic National Committee.

The bulk of that, however, went to party and joint fundraising committees. Romney’s campaign raised $23.4 million, records show, while Obama’s raised $39.1 million.

The Republican National Committee, now an extension of Romney’s campaign, ended May with $60.8 million in the bank — cash reserves it can deploy to build a get-out-the-vote effort for the former Massachusetts governor. That’s twice the amount of cash reserves held by the DNC.

Obama’s campaign has raised the specter of being outspent by Romney and his supporters, as wealthy Republicans continue to write checks to super PACs and non-profit advocacy groups.

Restore Our Future, a super PAC helping Romney, took in nearly $5 million in May, besting the $4 million that a pro-Obama group, Priorities USA Action, said it collected last month.

Roughly $1 out of every $5 Restore Our Future collected in May came from three Dayton companies that share an address.