President Barack beat out Republican
challenger Mitt Romney in fundraising for their election war chests
last month, data released by the campaigns showed Monday.
Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised 114
million dollars in August, campaign manager Jim Messina said.
Romney's team brought in 111.6 million dollars in the same time
period, it said in a statement.
The Republican candidate had 168.5 million dollars cash on hand,
but the Obama campaign did not provide a figure for how much cash it
had.
The Romney campaign has led in fundraising for the last three
months in what looks to be among the most expensive elections in US
history.
The candidates are locked in a tight race, with Obama given a
slight lead in the latest opinion polls. A Rasmussen poll released
Saturday showed Obama with a 46 per cent lead over Romney with 44 per
cent support, while pollster Gallup showed 48 per cent for Obama to
45 per cent for Romney.
