Obama re-election campaign says more than $70 million raised

President Barack Obama’s re-election effort raised more than $70 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, down from the $86 million collected in the previous quarter.

Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, reported the fundraising total for the third quarter in an e-mail to supporters today.

The figure is a combination of money raised by Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, including contributions received by the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee run by the two entities. Obama for America, the president’s re-election campaign committee, collected $42.8 million, while the DNC’s take was $27.3 million.

Messina said 606,027 people donated to the campaign, more than did so in the second quarter.

“That support translates directly to what we can do on the ground,” he said. “In the past three months we’ve grown our organizing staff by 50 percent, and opened up three new field offices every week. Thousands of volunteers and organizers made 3 million phone calls and in-person visits to voters.”

The total was more than the $55 million goal set by the president’s campaign and the DNC.

The campaign lowered its goal for the third quarter after several fundraisers were canceled because Obama was engaged in the congressional debate over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, Matthew Barzun, the campaign’s national finance committee chairman, told Bloomberg News in September.

Challenges for Obama

The smaller fundraising total, compared with the previous quarter, also shows the challenges Obama faces with declining poll numbers amid an economy with 9.1 percent unemployment.

The president has acknowledged his fallen standing, calling himself the underdog in the 2012 presidential campaign in an Oct. 3 interview with ABC News.

In his e-mail, Messina said the average donation during the quarter was $56. So far this year, 982,967 people have given to the campaign, he said.

“Getting to a million grassroots donors isn’t just a huge accomplishment this early in the campaign,” he said. “It’s our answer to our opponents, the press, and anyone who wants to know whether the president’s supporters have his back.”

Obama raised a record $745 million for his 2008 campaign. Messina has dismissed as speculation suggestions that the campaign will raise $1 billion this election cycle.

Obama’s top bundlers, who solicit money from a wide circle of donors, have been asked to collect at least $350,000 this year alone. Four years ago, members of Obama’s national finance committee were asked to raise $250,000 for the 2007-08 cycle.

Republican Candidates

On the Republican side of the race, the campaign for Texas Governor Rick Perry said Oct. 5 that it raised more than $17 million during the third quarter.

His collections, disclosed in advance of an Oct. 15 reporting date to the Federal Election Commission, likely will exceed anything raised by his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination during the quarter.

U.S. Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, said Oct. 5 that he raised more than $8 million in the quarter, which could be third-most among the Republican presidential contenders in the most recent quarter.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who leads in national polls of Republicans, has not yet released his fundraising total. He could report up to $14 million in the quarter, according to a person close to the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the campaign hasn’t authorized the disclosure.