(Newser)
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President Obama's campaign outraised Mitt Romney's in August, marking a first since the spring. Obama raised $114 million, just squeaking by Romney's $111 million, Reuters reports. It's a small gap compared to July, when Romney's $101 million dwarfed Obama's $75 million. But Obama's latest haul represents the contributions of 1.1 million donors, 317,000 of whom were giving for the first time, the Obama campaign says.
Some 98% of donations were of $250 or less; the average donation was $58. It's the first month that the president, combined with the DNC, have raised more than $100 million this year. "Now we know we can match them, doing this our way," the campaign tweeted. Still, before the latest report, Romney and his RNC fund had $60 million more on hand than the president. And Obama has spent money at a much quicker clip than Romney, Reuters notes: $58.5 million in July alone. What's more, now that Romney has been officially nominated, he can spend money he raised during the primaries.
