Everyone Loves an Underdog

Romney raised more money than Obama in May. This news seems to be catching on like wildfire. I first saw this news on a post at Obama's campaign site. The post takes this news and spins it into a tale of Obama fighting the rich and powerful because Romney's contributions came in large amounts and Obama's contributions came in small amounts.

In fact, there is a new "panic" video put up by the Obama campaign:

The fact that Obama was out-raised will make the campaign try to paint him as an underdog, even though this is the first time he was out-raised in contributions by Romney. In fact, according to a new post today on Obama's campaign site, it is the first time he has been out-raised since 2007.

None the less, if Obama does not raise as much money or more than Romney every month, he will be painted as an underdog. Romney will always be portrayed as the rich man buying his way to the White House. Walker's recent victory in the recall election has been attributed to the fact he got more contributions. Who raises more money really isn't news unless you want to use it to gain underdog status and promote a dramatic rising from the ashes victory, and the next step will be for the Obama campaign to insert Walker's victory into Obama's quest for a second term.

So what were the numbers for May?

May Fundraising

Obama	$60 Million
Romney	$76.8 Million

But what are their current war chest totals?

Current Totals

Obama	$277 Million
Romney	$175 Million

Romney has five months to close a $102 million gap. If he can raise $16.8 million more than Obama every month he will still end up $18 million short. Romney having one good month on Obama does not make Obama an underdog. Romney can keep doing this good and Romney will still be the underdog financially. But the frenzy across the news will not paint it that way.

Romney will continue to get tagged as getting special interest and big dollar donations. Obama will get tagged as getting his money from the people. Obama doesn't care about the rich; he cares about the poor and middle class. You can see his sincerity with the Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour commercials and the George Clooney dinner. Obama in no way can be connected with the rich like Romney can.

Remember. The meme is Walker won because of money. Now, every time Romney raises more than Obama, Romney is buying the election, even if in the end Romney ends up short.

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