(Newser)
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The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a significant amount of funds in 2011—$222 million—but not quite enough to beat the Bush-Cheney amount from the same period eight years ago. In 2003, Bush's campaign and the RNC raised about $239 million, which Politico did not adjust for inflation. And the $68 million raised by Obama and the DNC in the fourth quarter was less than the $70.1 million raised the quarter prior.
One possible problem: complacency. In a message sent to supporters, campaign manager Jim Messina said that donors who think "they don’t have to give now" are "completely wrong. ... We have to build a ground organization now, not in six months." The campaign was cheered by the apparently lessened enthusiasm of GOP voters—voter turnout in Iowa and New Hampshire was lower than in 2008—but still fears it will be surpassed by Mitt Romney, the RNC, and GOP super PACs. Romney collected more than $24 million in the last quarter of 2011, and his super PAC raised millions more.
