2012 Election: Will Campaign Donations Determine the Winner?

Campaign donations play an important role in elections. Candidates need to raise money to get their message across using advertising on television, radio, the internet, etc... Candidates also need to travel, employ campaign strategists and workers, spend money on other logistics of running a national campaign.

Barack Obama spent $740 million dollars to win in 2008 -- more money than any campaign in American history. President Obama may need to spend more than that to win a re-election.

Obama's challenger, Mitt Romney, raised $106 million in June. Romney has received large donations from Republicans to rival the large Super PAC donations Obama received from celebrities like Morgan Freeman.

Associated Press reports:
June was the second consecutive month in which Romney brought in more money than Obama, finance reports filed Friday show. Romney's money advantage prompted Obama's campaign advisers to warn earlier this month that the president could lose the election if the financial disparity continued.