President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised $181 million in September, breaking their August record of $114 million and marking a new high this year for funds raised.

"I have amazing news. Last month, we surpassed 10 million donations in 2012 alone. We made history. And we raised $181 million during the month of September," Obama for American campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to supporters sent Saturday morning.

"Day in and day out, you're out there getting the President's back," the Messina email added. "We're all going to do the best we can over next 31 days to honor that support. But this election isn't over. With just one month left, we need to lean in and sprint."

After a lackluster performance at the first presidential debate in Denver on Wednesday, the president regained his stride this week by criticizing statements made by his Republican challenger Mitt Romney during the debate, especially his statements he would cut funding to PBS.

Obama also received a bump Friday after it was announced unemployment fell by the sharpest rate in months, coming in at 7.8 percent, the lowest number since the president took office in January 2009.

The Congressional Budget Office also announced Friday the deficit, although still above $1 trillion in 2012, dropped $207 billion from 2011. Then on Saturday, the Messina announced these fundraising numbers - the highest for any candidate this year in a single month.

Messina also gave details of the numbers, highlighting how 98 percent of the donations were under $250 and over half a million of the 1.8 million who gave the average $53 were first-time donors.

The Romney campaign, consistently out-raising Obama this year, fell behind last month, bringing in $2 million less than the president. The Romney campaign has not yet released their fundraising numbers for September.

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