US President Barack Obama has more money in his campaign bank account than Republican challenger Mitt Romney, and is using his funds early, outspending the former Massachusetts governor by about 2-to-1 last month, according to New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG.
Obama entered July with $97.5 million in the bank, and used a part of it to run 35,347 television ads in the 14-day period ending July 16, according to Kantar Media’s CMAG. The Romney campaign, which began July with $22.5 million, aired 16,946 spots during that period. Since more than 97 percent of those commercials were negative, that meant voters saw twice as many campaign-funded ads attacking Romney rather than Obama.
Romney’s side has been able to take in more money than Obama’s during the last two months as both men raise money jointly with their political parties, which can take in larger donations than the candidate committees alone. The difference is that Obama can directly control his money, while Romney must rely more on party leaders.
“It is always better to have money controlled by the campaign, but the parties air spots that are consistent with the candidates’ messages,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of communication at Boston University. “Party-run spots rarely cause problems for their candidates.”