Obama sets record, raises $86M

The Hill reports

President Obama raised a mammoth sum for his campaign in the second quarter collecting $86 million to support his reelection, a figure that should far surpass the fundraising totals for his Republican challengers.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina strong>announced the haul in a web video< posted Wednesday morning, outlining for supporters the president's second quarter numbers, as well as a bit of the campaign's fundraising strategy.

The $86 million figure represents a sum that includes contributions directly to Obama's campaign, along with money collected by the Obama Victory Fund, the joint-fundraising account established to benefit the president's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Messina said that, of the $86 million, $47 million went to the president's reelection campaign, and $38 million went to the DNC.

"Your early support means we can make more investments now, giving our organizers more time to build relationships on the grounds, reach more peple and recruit more volunteers," Messina said in the video.

The second quarter haul by Obama surpasses the $60 million goal that Messina had set for the campaign in the second quarter. Obama's traveled a great deal this past quarter since strong>formally launching his campaign on April 4<, shortly after the new quarter begun.

The Obama campaign didn't announce how much it had spent on its organization in the second quarter, or how much cash on hand it will report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) when its filing is due on Friday.

But those numbers are extremely likely to surpass whatever Obama's field of Republican challengers have in the bank. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), the top fundraiser in the campaign, strong>reported raising $18 million< in the second quarter. Obama's total dwarves Romney's haul, though, and the rest of the Republican presidential field lags far behind Romney.

The Obama campaign and the DNC swore off donations from political action committees (PACs) this cycle, meaning that contributions were driven mostly by individuals. The Obama reelection campaign collected donations from over 552,000 individuals, 95 percent of which were less than $250, Messina said.