Obama Fundraising Declines

President Obama’s campaign raised $43.6 million in April, a decline from the $53 million it collecting during March, the campaign announced this morning.

The campaign offered no explanation for the drop in fundraising – actually, it didn’t mention the drop.

The cause of the decline is unclear. There doesn’t seem to have been any lessening of Obama’s personal fundraising efforts, which remained robust. And the drop off came as the Obama campaign continued to ramp up operations and as the Republican race clarified, with Mitt Romney becoming the presumptive nominee.

Romney, with his glass-of-milk persona, may not be a galvanizing force for conservatives, but Obama’s fundraising drop off also suggests he’s not scaring Democrats the way a more severely conservative candidate might have.

In a video, Obama campaign Manager Jim Messina bragged about the grass roots nature of the fundraising, saying that 98 percent of donors contributed less than $250 and that the average donation was below $50.

These small donor numbers are pumped up, of course, by the relentless calls for $3 donations by the campaign, including $3 raffle tickets for a meal with the president.

But the numbers also point to what some have described as a problem for the campaign – the unwillingness of big donors whose income and industries have been vilified by Obama to give him money this time around.

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Award winning journalist Keith Koffler has 16 years of experience covering Washington. As a reporter for CongressDaily, National Journal magazine, and Roll Call, Keith wrote primarily from the White House, covering three presidents and learning as few have the intricacies of the West Wing and the behavior and motivations of its occupants. While mainly stationed at the White House, he also extensively covered Congress and Washington’s lobbyists. Keith has also written for a variety of other publications, including Politico, The Daily Caller, and The London Observer. He currently writes regular opinion columns for Politico. He blogs at whitehousedossier.com.

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