Obama Tops Romney In August Fundraising

In June and July, Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) raised more campaign funds than did President Obama (and Romney now has raised more than $100 million dollars in three straight months -- June, July, August). That's kind of scary -- to think that Romney will have a ton of money (many tons if you count super-PACs) to spread his lies between now and election day (and lies seem to be all he's interested in spreading).

But all is not lost. In August, President Obama actually raised more campaign funds than Romney did. The president raised over $114 million, compared to the $111.6 million raised by Romney in August. This showed a sharp spike in giving to the president's campaign, since only about $75 million was raised in July. The president's campaign said that 1.1 million people donated an average of $58 to the campaign in August (including 317,000 new donors, who had not given before).

Even if the president outraises Romney in September and October, it is apparent that he is not going to have the funds that Romney will have (considering the unlimited donations and spending the Romney super-PACs are capable of). I think the president has a very good chance to win the upcoming election, but it's going to take a lot of hard work and a superior get-out-the-vote effort.

The president may not have been able to deliver on all the promises he made -- at least not yet (I know he's turned out to be a lot more of a corporate middle-of-the-roader than I like). But the alternative, a Ryan/Romney administration, is unthinkable, and would be disastrous for our economy and our democracy. It's time for us progressives to swallow hard and put our grievances on the shelf for a couple of months. The president must be re-elected. Then we can do our best to hold his feet to the fire for the next four years (and hopefully, since he won't have to worry about re-election anymore, he can be moved in a more progressive direction).