Things are looking up for Mitt Romney lately.
It was announced today that Mr. Romney out-fundraised Barack Obama in May by $17 million. This marks the first time he's outraised the president this year.
Even more troubling for the Obama campaign is the latest news on the jobs front. On Friday, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate rose last month to 8.2 percent. To put that in perspective, The New York Times reports that no president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been re-elected to a second term when the unemployment rate on Election Day was higher than 7.2 percent.
In short, it has been a good month for Mitt Romney.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told reporters yesterday that news of Mitt Romney's fundraising numbers was not unexpected.
"That should serve as a clarion call to our supporters and our donors," he said. "We anticipated that they would beat us this month."
Meanwhile, the Obama team is using big names to spark donations. Last month, two campaign donors won tickets to a celebrity dinner for the President at George Clooney's home. This month, Obama supporters could donate to the campaign for a chance to win an invitation to a dinner with President Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, followed by a concert featuring Mariah Carey.
With a faltering economy at stake, it's shaping up to be a tight race. A new poll shows Mr. Obama leading among swing state voters by just two points. Pollsters from Purple Strategies write, "Despite still trailing, Mitt Romney has reached his highest vote total since our tracking began in September of 2011." Expect the state of the economy in the coming months to play a huge roll in voting decisions this November.
What do you think of these latest numbers?
Image via Austen Hufford/Flickr
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Comments 63
agree with what LBoz said about Obama thinking he is a celebrity. That has turned off a lot of the people I know who voted for him last time and aren't this time. He should be in more small town diners greeting the "regular Joe's." We don't live like George Clooney or SJP. Obama has put himself in the position that he thinks he's better than the rest of us and nobody likes it. He has proven these last few months with all his TV appearances and celebrity dinners that he doesn't care about the "little people" who put him where he is and thankfully they don't intend to make that mistake again this time.
I'm not happy about unemployment and all these dismal numbers coming out. Or the price of gas this summer nor about the uneven stock market or banks not borrowing money or what's going on in Europe but if these numbers had to come out now, they couldn't have come at a better time.
@Renee~the repubs do support woman's rights. It's just that we don't believe they should be federally funded.
Obama can NOT be the next president. He has no idea what he's doing. He's done a really good job of that. Come to think of it, that's the only thing he's done well.
The sad things is, that when the economy has a bad report, its a GOOD day for repubs. They're back there high-fiving eachother when the unemployment rate goes up. They practically smile when the news is bad. Because that is thier goal! They WANT this economy to stay terrible so they can get the president out. That is thier main issue.
I think we can officially say we've reached a brand new low and a new meaning for the term "going party over policy. "
Just wait till Obama and Mitt debate face to face. Then I think people will see who's really the better candidate.