Obama raises $29.1M toward re-election

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama raised $29.1 million for his campaign and for the Democratic Party in January, a strong fundraising month that put him ahead of the pace he set in the last quarter of 2011.

In a Twitter message Friday morning, the Obama campaign announced the president raised the money for his re-election effort, for the Democratic National Committee and related committees. The campaign raises money directly from donors and through a Victory Fund that splits proceeds with party efforts devoted to Obama's re-election.

The month's haul raises Obama's total combined fundraising for this election cycle to about $250 million. In the last three months of 2011, he averaged about $23 million a month.

That fundraising concluded before the campaign's announcement this month that, in a reversal, Obama would embrace the big big-money fundraising groups -- super PACs -- he once criticized and let them help in his re-election.

The Obama campaign did not immediately provide a breakdown of the January fundraising but said 98 percent of those donations were $250 or less. Many of those donors are repeat contributors, meaning their aggregate donations over the past year would exceed $250. Still, the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, which analyzes contributions, found that small donors, those whose aggregate contributions were less than $200, accounted for 48 percent of Obama's campaign income in 2011.

That more than doubles the small donor contributions to his campaign in 2007. What's more, the institute found that small donors accounted for only 9 percent of 2011 fundraising for Mitt Romney, the top fundraiser in the Republican primary contest.

Obama also relies on an extended team of more than 440 supporters who help him raise money, including 61 people who each raised at least half a million dollars. Altogether, those top-dollar fundraisers collected at least $75 million last year, to be used by Obama this fall.

Meanwhile Friday, Obama called for more steps to help U.S. companies compete overseas, standing in front of a Boeing Dreamliner jet to summon a bright future for American manufacturing and exports.

Visiting a Boeing plant in Everett, Wash., Obama pushed for Congress to continue financing a national export credit agency crucial to a goal of doubling exports by 2014. He pointed to the aviation giant as a homegrown company bolstering the U.S. economy by doing business overseas as he sought to make the case that the nation's economy is on the rise.

"The tide is beginning to turn our way," Obama said before cheering workers.

Obama's visit was highly orchestrated to portray the strength of American manufacturing. After inspecting the aircraft, Obama emerged from the back of a behemoth Dreamliner to deliver his remarks, walking down the red-carpeted stairs as "Hail to the Chief" blared on overhead speakers.