The conventional wisdom earlier this year was that President Obama would be able to raise more money than Mitt Romney's campaign, but that Romney's allies would be able to level the playing field by funneling more money to outside Super PAC's. Instead, the GOP is showing a fund raising prowess that's threatening to leave Democrats far behind in terms of cash.
For a third straight month in July, the President and the Democratic National Committee were millions behind Romney and the Republican National Committee in terms of direct fundraising - the GOP bringing in $101 million to $75 million for the President's team.
"We can win if we're outraised - but we've got to close the gap as much as we can," the President said in a fundraising pitch on Twitter Monday evening.
"This morning, we learned that for the third month in a row, we've been outraised by the other side in this race," the President added.
At about the same time, the President was raising money at a pair of fundraising events in Connecticut, one at the home of Hollywood studio mogul Harvey Weinstein.
"We have a lot of work to do, and we're not done," said the President.
When Romney raised more money in May, Democrats said it was a one time thing.
When Romney did it again in June - by $35 million - it raised eyebrows in Wshington, D.C.
And now that Romney has raised about $78 million more than the President over the last three months, those kind of figures cannot be ignored.
Think about it - the Democrats and President Obama raised $75 million in July - if the Democrats repeated that next month and Romney raised no money at all, Romney would still have an advantage over that four month period.
That extra cash certainly can translate into more advertising and more ground organization.
Money does not equal victory - but would you rather have $78 million more than your opponent or $78 million less?
Election day is thirteen weeks away.
