Skip to Content

President Obama is feeling the pressure to compete financially with Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, despite his inherent advantage as an incumbent.

The GOP challenger is running neck-in-neck with him in both polls and fundraising, leaving Obama sounding the alarm to his deep-pocketed backers.

And after smashing records in 2008, raising over $746 million from a historic donor roll of 3 million names, Obama appears on pace to do it again.

Still, Obama and Democrats are sounding the alarm for what would seem to be unthinkable: behind outraised and outspent by Romney in 2012.

“We see where we stand, and right now on a month-to-month basis, we’ve fallen behind,” Obama told donors on a call direct from Air Force One.

“We just can’t be outspent 10 to 1,” Obama said, according to The Daily Beast.

“That’s what happened in Wisconsin recently. The Koch brothers and their allies spent more than the other side’s entire campaign, our side’s entire campaign.”

 
“We are going to see more money spent on negative ads through these super PACs and anonymous outside groups than ever before. And if things continue as they have so far, I’ll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent.”

An Obama campaign official confirmed the veracity of the recording to ABC News, but described the discussion with donors as a “routine finance call.”

The President uses a non-taxpayer-funded phone for such calls, he added.

Obama’s message – that he could be the first incumbent president outspent – seeks to instill a sense of urgency in supporters as the election approaches.

The good news for the President: He received a boost last week when the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. The bad news: So did Romney.

For whom would you vote today?