President Barack Obama's re-election campaign reported spending more than it received during the month of July, prompting the president to tap into his cash reserves.
Three months before Election Day, Obama reported to the Federal Election Commission on Monday that his campaign raised $49.2 million during the month but spent $59 million. Moreover, Obama's campaign has slipped behind GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in cash-on-hand.
The Obama campaign said it had $87.7 million in its accounts at the end of the month. Romney officials, meanwhile, had reported cash-on-hand of about $186 million. Romney's campaign finance report for July has not yet been made public.
Obama had been out-spending Romney throughout much of the year, $153 million to $106 million, partly because Romney is not yet the official GOP presidential nominee until the Republican National Convention in Tampa next week. That has prevented him from being able to spend much of his funds.
Romney and the GOP also have an edge over Obama when their bank accounts are combined with the Republican National Committee. Romney and the RNC reported raising $101 million in such combined funds in July, compared to $75 million for Obama and the Democratic National Committee.
Much of Obama's receipts went to fund advertising - about $40 million worth - while the rest paid for the campaign's 800 paid employees.
Obama has said several times he expects to be outspent by Romney and the Republicans this year, a statement backed up on Monday by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.
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