Romney pulls in $12M as Obama builds war chest

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney's presidential campaign raised $12.6 million in contributions in March, adding to roughly $14 million his Republican Party brought in last month. But the combined figure puts Romney at a disadvantage with the man whose job he wants in November.

President Barack Obama countered Romney's fundraising haul with about $53 million in donations between his campaign and the Democratic Party during the same period. That left his campaign with $104 million cash on hand ? about 10 times more than the $10 million Romney had in the bank at the end of March.

Yet a fire hose of cash from a major GOP "super" political committee is likely to bring some financial parity to the race, and Romney just recently started collecting funds for the general election. Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting Romney, raised about $8.6 million last month, largely from a handful of wealthy donors. It spent more than $11 million on ads.

For the first time since Super Tuesday, voters are getting a look at just how much money presidential candidates and their supporters have been raking in. Friday also marks nearly three months since Obama's campaign changed course and asked supporters to pony up cash to a favorable super PAC.

Financial reports due Friday to the Federal Election Commission will also show how much red ink struggling campaigns are bleeding ? or, in the case of the Republican super PAC American Crossroads, how much money some groups have been stuffing into their war chests. The Republican National Committee reported a March fundraising haul of $13.7 million, which will boost the eventual GOP nominee during the general election.

Crossroads and its nonprofit arm, Crossroads GPS, raised a combined $100 million this election cycle, the group plans to announce Friday. Crossroads, backed by former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, has run TV ads critical of Obama and is expected to be a major player on the airwaves during the general election.

Indeed, much has changed since the March 6 Super Tuesday contests, when Republican voters in six out of 10 states chose Romney as their preferred nominee to compete against Obama. Rick Santorum has since folded his campaign, and Newt Gingrich has been working with a shoestring budget.

Still, Obama's fundraising advantage puts him at a less-than-solid position when compared with the tens of millions of dollars the sister Crossroads groups have amassed so far. During the last six months of 2011 alone, GPS brought in $28 million from only a few dozen major donors, recent tax filings show. Crossroads has said it plans to raise more than $300 million to beat Obama.

Countering Crossroads' millions in ad spending is Priorities USA Action, a super PAC founded by former Obama advisers. From early 2011 through the end of February, however, the group and its nonprofit arm raised about $10 million. Priorities USA Action, like other super PACs supporting GOP candidates, has counted on major financial support from a handful of wealthy donors.

Those include very generous donors like Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, who have given more than $10 million combined to a super PAC supporting Gingrich. It's unclear, however, if the Winning Our Future PAC will still receive big contributions from Adelson now that Romney is the presumptive nominee.

The largest March contribution to Restore Our Future was $1 million from Huron Carbon LLC, a firm based in West Palm Beach, Fla. The company's owner is not revealed in the super PAC files, but it shares a street and suite address with Oxbow Carbon LLC, a fossil-fuel processor and mining firm headed by energy magnate William Koch. Regulatory filings also show a similarly named Canadian firm, Huron Carbon, with ties to Great Lakes Carbon, a company bought by Oxbow in 2007.

Oxbow had previously given $750,000 to the pro-Romney committee and Koch made an earlier personal contribution of $250,000. Koch is a brother of wealthy GOP donors Charles and David Koch, and while William Koch also supports many GOP causes, he has also at times supported Democrats. Oxbow is a fossil fuels processor and mining operation that has pressed for changes to laws and regulations on mining, safety issues and climate change.

Obama, for his part, is facing the prospect of being swamped by outside Republican groups in fundraising. That's why he decided three months ago to reverse course and give his blessing to super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations from corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals.

Friday's reports show that Obama has about 600 paid campaign staffers. Romney, meanwhile, had fewer than 100 on his payroll, records show.

Most super PACs and presidential campaigns have until midnight Friday to submit their reports.

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Associated Press writer Stephen Braun contributed to this report.

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Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackgillum

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