Obama raises $43.6M in April

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama raised a combined $43.6 million last month for his campaign and the Democratic Party as he faces a unifying Republican effort around Mitt Romney for the White House.

Obama's monthly fundraising haul fell short of the $53 million he raised in March, but he remains far ahead of Romney in cash on hand. The president also pulled in about $15 million at a Hollywood fundraising event this month.

"This election is going to be close, given the historic challenges this country faced when the president came into office," campaign manager Jim Messina told supporters in a YouTube video released yesterday. The campaign said it added 169,000 new donors last month.

Obama's fundraising announcement came the same day the Republican group Crossroads GPS said it would spend $25 million on ads critical of the president. Crossroads is the nonprofit arm of American Crossroads, a "super" political committee backed by former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove that has raised about $100 million this election to defeat Obama.

Crossroads plans to open its effort today with an $8 million TV spot that castigates Obama on the economy, the biggest issue this election year. It will run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Messina's message pointed to the millions of dollars being spent on anti-Obama ads by so-called special interests and oil company executives -- specifically citing the Koch brothers, who founded Americans For Prosperity. That group has spent about $5 million so far on ads critical of Obama.

While Romney and the Republicans have super PACs working in their favor, so does Obama. But Democratic super PACs have raised and spent less on average than their GOP counterparts, including Restore Our Future, which supports Romney.

Obama's campaign and the Democratic Party had about $124 million cash on hand at the end of March, while Romney and the GOP reported $43 million left in the bank at the end of March, federal reports show.