Obama wins in money stakes as TV spend hits $677m
Meanwhile, spending on television advertising in the race for the White House has topped two-thirds of a billion dollars, according to sources, with Republicans only narrowly outpacing those who back Obama.
The news came as Romney released details of his 2011 tax return.
Aides had said he earned almost $13.7m (€10.5m) last year and paid more than $1.9m in taxes — an effective tax rate of 14.1%.
The release comes after a difficult week for Romney in which a leaked, secretly recorded video showed him saying nearly half of the country does not pay income taxes.
Romney paid about $3m in federal income taxes in 2010 — 13.9%.
Monthly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicate that Obama’s strategy of collecting relatively small contributions from donors could offset Republicans’ efforts to boost Romney through big-money donations by wealthy supporters to independent groups.
Television stations in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia have all reaped more than $100m, data shows, as the two campaigns and their supportive outside groups have dumped a total of $677m onto the airwaves. Obama spent over $3m in each of the three critical battleground states this week, while Romney spent between $2m and $3m in each.
In a rare show of strength, the key pro-Obama Super PAC raised more money last month than its rival pro-Romney group.
The FEC reports portray massive spending by both sides in August, as the campaigns approached their party’s nominating conventions.
Obama’s campaign raised $84.2m and spent $83.2m last month.
The campaign ended the month with $88.8m, compared with $50.4m for Romney’s campaign.
Romney could be helped by the Republican National Committee, which at the end of August had $76.7m on hand, compared with just $7.1m for the Democratic National Committee
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