![Workers put up a sign outside the Time Warner Cable Arena, the venue for the Democratic National Convention, which starts next week, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[REUTERS/Chris Keane, August 31, 2012]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9mvkggplm1rtzzbqo1_500.jpg)
President Obama’s re-election campaign and affiliated Democratic groups raised more than $60 million in May, a steep jump from the previous month.
May’s increase gives Obama a boost as Mitt Romney closes the contributions gap.
It is also a bit of good news for Democratic supporters after the Republican victory in the Wisconsin governor recall election this week that was widely seen as a sign of how Republican fundraising could cause problems for the president in the November election.
READ MORE: Obama sees fundraising boost in May
Credit: President Obama waves as he runs to greet supporters after arriving at San Francisco International Airport in California aboard Air Force One, June 6, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Republican opposition to nearly every one of President Obama’s programs derives not from ideology but out of a desire to ensure the administration’s failure, authors Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Chrystia Freeland.
“As soon as Obama or a Democratic leader embraces a Republican position, they deny it and move onto something else,” Mann says.
Romney super PAC raises less, but still tops Democrats
The pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future raised $3.9 million in April — less than half of its haul in March — but still far ahead of its Democratic counterpart, Alina Selyukh and Alexander Cohen report.
Restore Our Future had $8.2 million in cash on hand at the end of the latest reporting period, filings with the Federal Election Commission showed on Sunday.
The pro-Obama group, Priorities USA Action, raised $1.6 million last month and had $4.7 million cash on hand - most of which has since been spent on an ad blitz against Romney’s private equity past, disclosure forms showed.
Super PACs can take unlimited funds, campaigns can accept $2,500 once during the primary battle and again during the general election, and joint funds can accept up to $70,800 in addition to those campaign contributions.
House Republicans led in April fundraising
The Republican Party’s fundraising arm working to elect its candidates to the House of Representatives raised $6.9 million in April, slightly more for the month than its Democratic counterpart.
National Republican Congressional Committee figures released on Friday showed that the NRCC ended last month with $31.3 million left in the bank, adding about $4.2 million to the cash on hand in March.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $6.5 million and had $25 million left on hand, according to its figures due to be officially reported to the Federal Election Commission by May 20.
Photo credit: Speaker of the House John Boehner on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 28, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing
