Obama's third quarter re- election campaign likely to rake in over 55 million dollars

Washington, Oct 1(ANI): The Obama third quarter re- election campaign is likely to rake in over 55 million dollars in combined contributions to joint party and presidential committees, but likely to lag behind its record-breaking second-quarter haul.

Campaign manager Jim Messina had earlier said Obama is aiming to achieve the 55 million dollar target in the third quarter.

A campaign spokesperson refused to estimate the total amount expected to be raised in the third quarter, Politico reports.

"Clearly, the effort is solid if not another [record-breaker]. When you have a demanding day job like him, you don't have the time to do as much fundraising as a guy like Rick Perry, who doesn't care if Texas burns down," Obama's national finance council member, Dick Harpootlian said.

"The third-quarter drop-off was always anticipated, plus we had all those finance events that had to be canceled," a Democrat said, on the condition of anonymity.

The fundraising drive, which is described as the greatest political money show, is fraught with risks as even missing the target by slim margin would be a setback for the entire campaign.

The Boston Globe reported that Republican Mitt Romney would likely raise between 11 and 13 million dollars for the quarter, as compared to 18.2 million dollars raised during the second quarter.

"The first reporting period is usually the best finance report for a campaign. We are going to raise considerably less than what we did in our first reporting period, but we will still meet our finance goals for this quarter," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said.

Texas Governor Rick Perry could be top GOP fundraiser.

Obama had raced against time to raise funds in September and bombarded his supporters with fundraising emails to maximize small donations.

Unlike the previous fundraising effort, the current drive is mainly aiming to achieve million donors.(ANI)