Obama alarmed by Romney cashflow

US President Barack Obama, renowned as a champion fundraiser who piled up $750m (€600m) in 2008, warned supporters he would be outspent by his foe Mitt Romney in this year’s election.

The president lashed the Republican for huddling last weekend at a “secretive retreat” for rich donors and chiefs of fundraising committees targeting Demo-crats, portraying his policies as harmful to the middle class.

“I will be the first president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign, if things continue as they have so far,” said Obama in a fundraising email sent out to his supporters.

“We can be outspent and still win — but we can’t be outspent 10 to 1 and still win.”

Obama’s email came as he wound up a fundraising swing through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Florida, which was reportedly set to raise up to $5m for his election war chest.

In one event on Tuesday, around 30 guests enjoyed cuisine from a top chef after paying $40,000 per head to attend.

Since clinching the Republican nomination, Romney has set about building a formidable fundraising machine, which he will use for a torrent of political ads.

His haul, which some pundits think could hit up to $800m, will erase the huge money advantage Obama enjoyed over the Republican candidate in the 2008 general election race, John McCain.

In May, Romney overtook the president in monthly campaign fund-raising figures, piling up $76m over the month, compared to the more than $60m by the incumbent Democrat.

Romney is also set to reap an important advantage from allied big money political action committees known as super PACS, which, thanks to a con-troversial Supreme Court ruling, can raise unlimited funds.

One report by the Politico newspaper estimated that super PACs backing Romney and Republican candidates could spend as much as $1bn attacking Obama and the Democrats.

The president told supporters in Miami that Romney would use his cash bonanza to distort his record in what is shaping up to be a knife edge election on Nov 6.

“The other side will spend more money than at any time in United States history on negative ads that have a very simple message — that say the economy is bad, and it is all my fault.”