Romney's August Haul: $111 Million

Sarah Huisenga

BOSTON – Mitt Romney and his supporting Republican committees pulled in $111.6 million in August, their largest monthly fundraising haul to date. It marks the third straight month in which the Republican nominee has raised more than $100 million for his campaign.

The campaign, Republican National Committee and state party participants also announced they have about $168.5 million cash on hand -- a sizeable amount for the remaining two months of the race.

“Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems – that is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country,” Romney Victory National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a joint statement.

The August total was boosted, in part, with the naming of Ryan to the ticket. On August 12, one day after the official announcement of the Wisconsin congressman as Romney's running mate, Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said the campaign raised $5 million.

The Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee have not yet released their August fundraising totals, but Romney and the GOP outraised them both June and July. During last week’s Democratic National Convention, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina pointed to the Republicans' advantage and asked supporters to open their wallets.

"The other guys write $10 million checks and make $10,000 bets," Messina said in a speech. "But we've made this campaign bet on you."

The plea, along with what has generally been seen as a strong convention for the Democrats, appears to have had an early impact. On Saturday, a message sent from the Obama's Twitter account announced that more than 700,000 new donations had come in during the week of the convention.

According to a campaign news release announcing Romney’s August total, $34.6 million -- about 31 percent -- was raised through donations under $250. Romney has typically lagged behind Obama in small-dollar donations, but has made up the difference from donors giving the maximum amount that it allowed.