Obama on track to raise a record $200 MILLION this year for 2012 re-election campaign



The 2012 election is set to become the priciest in history, with the Obama campaign predicting it has raised $60 million in the fourth quarter of this year alone.



The president’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised roughly $155 million through the end of September.



If it reaches its aim for this quarter, the campaign will have surpassed the staggering $200 million goal for the year, a campaign official said.

On track: Obama, pictured at a campaign event in Washington, DC. earlier this month, hopes to have raised $60 million this quarter, a campaign official said

It means the campaign is well on its way to raise the total target of $750 million – the same amount they raised in the successful 2008 bid for the presidency.



Obama headlined 15 campaign fundraising events in the fourth quarter, according to Reuters.

Democrats began fundraising in April, raising $86 million in the second quarter of this year.



He raised $70 million in the third quarter – which Democratic officials believe could have been higher if debt ceiling talks over the summer had not interrupted the president’s schedule.

Donors: Obama, who hopes to raise more than $750 million in total, visits voters Patrick and Donna Festa in their Pennsylvania home in a bid for re-election

The $155 million at the end of the third quarter contrasts with the same period in 2007, by which Obama had raised $80.3 million and Hillary Clinton had raised $91 million.

‘Enthusiasm for the White House's policies has been steadily increasing and it will keep increasing,’ Steven Cohen, a campaign fundraiser based in Chicago, told Reuters.



RACE FOR FUNDS

With Obama on track to raise $200 million in 2011, how are the Republican candidates faring? At the end of the third quarter total raised funds stood at (in millions)

Mitt Romney: $32.2

Rick Perry: $17.2

Ron Paul: $12.6



Michele Bachmann: $7.5



Jon Huntsman: $4.5



Newt Gingrich: $3



Rick Santorum: $1.3

Figures from OpenSecrets.org

Cohen said Obama's commitment to an extension of a payroll tax cut while Republicans resisted, has set the president apart from his Republican opponents in the eyes of middle-class voters.



‘Among the people who I have talked to, they are seeing a real demonstration of the president's commitment to stand his ground,’ Cohen said.



Obama is not expected at any further fundraising event before the end of the year, as he is holidaying in Hawaii with his family.



The 2012 election is on its way to becoming the most expensive in history.

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is expected to raise at least $20 million this quarter.



He has already raised $32.6 million, according to the New York Times, with Rick Perry in third place with $17.2 million worth of funds.

