Romney Outraises Obama by $21.5M in First 17 Days of Oct.

In the first 17 days of October, Mitt Romney raised $21.5 million more than President Barack Obama, whose campaign’s fundraising prowess has been lionized for shattering nearly every fundraising record.

Earlier on Thursday, the Romney campaign announced it had raised $112 million dollars in the first 17 days of October. Later in the day, Obama’s campaign tweeted it had raised $90.5 million in the same time period.

The Republican National Committee ended September with an $82.6 million war chest while the Democratic National Committee had less than $5 million cash-on-hand and was $20.5 million in debt.  

Unlike John McCain’s campaign in 2008, the Romney campaign will not have any problems getting its message out to voters — and getting those voters to the polls during the campaign’s home stretch. More importantly, Romney and the RNC will have enough resources to respond to attacks from the Obama campaign, something which McCain could not do in 2008 in the most critical swing states in the last month of the campaign. 

Romney’s fundraising numbers — like his poll numbers — spiked after his first presidential debate against Obama, the most lopsided victory Gallup has ever measured.