Obama raises $53M in March

Obama raises $53M in March

President Obama and the Democrats raised $ 53 million for his re-election campaign in March, the biggest monthly haul of 2012.

The president has now collected nearly $ 350 million since he kicked off his campaign in the spring of last year.

The Obama campaign announced the fundraising in a video featuring testimony from grassroots donors. It claimed more than 190,000 first-time donors, and an average contrib ution of $ 50.78.

"This is really how this works," said campaign manager Jim Messina on the video. "People building this organization 5 and 10 bucks at a time to take on Mitt Romney.

With Romney and the Republicans revving up their own fundraising, Messina said: "We're all going to have to dig even deeper, work even harder, move even faster. It's going to take all of us working together."

Republican Party spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said Obama is also getting money from "special interests" with White House access.

"Big money contributions will not take away from the fact that President Obama cannot run on his record and is simply offering shiny objects to distract from his failure to bring hope and change to Americans as he promised," Kukowski said.

Politicoreports:

The top line number is up from $ 45 million in February and $ 29.1 million in January, the trend line is moving in a direction that Democrats can like.

The more interesting test of Obama's fundraising potential may come in the April numbers, now that it's unavoidably clear who the Republican nominee will be.

High on the list of reasons why Democrats believe Obama's fundraising has been s olid, but not jaw-dropping, is that there hasn't been a general election-like contrast with a Republican opponent, and financial supporters of both the grassroots and high-dollar variety haven't felt the urgency they otherwise might.

In March 2008, the Obama campaign -- operating without DNC help -- raised $ 42.8 million.