A leading “super PAC†backing Mitt Romney raised less than its Democratic counterpart in August, a rare head-to-head win for Democrats in an area overwhelmingly dominated by Republican groups and donors.
The group, Restore Our Future, founded by former Romney aides, took in about $7 million, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. Officials at the Democratic group, Priorities USA Action, founded by former aides to President Obama, raised a record $10 million in August, officials told The New York Times this month.
Republican super PACs are still likely to dominate Democratic ones. America Crossroads, co-founded by the Republican strategist Karl Rov e, is planning to raise and spend $300 million this year on the presidential and Congressional races. Restore Our Future is planning to raise upward of $100 million, and Priorities USA about $100 million.
Restore appears far ahead on meeting that goal, raising about $66 million in 2012 and about $30 million last year.
But the group burned through a huge amount of money in August, $21 million, a month during which the Romney campaign was hoarding cash, advertising sparingly, and borrowed $20 million to get through the convention and tap into its general election accounts. Restore Our Future had about $6.2 million in cash on hand at the beginning of September, when Republican outside groups once envisioned burying Mr. Obama in advertising.
Priorities USA has not yet filed its F.E.C. documents for August.
