In 6 of 9 swing states, Obama has fundraising edge
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks about the fundraising race among those in the GOP who want to be president.
By Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars
USA TODAY
In North Carolina, one of nine states won by President Bush in 2004 that Obama captured in 2008, supporters donated more than $300,000 to Obama during the April-to-June fundraising period, about twice the amount of individual contributions that flowed to the top GOP fundraiser, Mitt Romney. In Indiana, which Obama won by 1%, the president outraised Romney 3-to-1. . .
Overall, Obama's fundraising haul, $46.3 million, outpaced the campaign money collected by the entire Republican field.
Obama has outraised his rivals in 36 states and the District of Columbia, while Romney is ahead in 11, including three swing states, Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where Romney staged a one-day, fundraising call-a-thon in May. . .
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty holds the fundraising lead in three states: Kansas, South Dakota and his home state of Minnesota. Pawlenty relied on more than $1 out of every $4 he raised in individual contributions from Minnesotans, a sign the Republican has not yet attracted a wide fundraising base, experts say.
"He's in deep trouble," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "He smells like a moderate to the Republican primary electorate, although he portrays himself as a social and fiscal conservative," Jillson said.
Pawlenty's reliance on Minnesota donors shows he's "not effectively reaching out to the rest of the nation," he added.
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