Obama campaign raises $45M in February

President Obama raised $45 million for his reelection bid in February, his campaign announced on Monday.

The fundraising haul brings his total for this election cycle to close to $300 million.

The campaign reported that roughly a quarter of the February donors, 105,000, were small donors. The campaign also said that 97.7 percent of donations were of $250 or less, making the average donation $59.04. 

The president stepped up his fundraising efforts in February, holding a host of events, and his numbers for the month far surpass the $29 million total the campaign raised in January.

The numbers, however, are somewhat lower than Obama's haul during his first presidential campaign, when he raised $56.78 million in February. 

Obama’s totals overtake those of his likely GOP challengers. In contrast, Mitt Romney raised $11.5 million in February and Rick Santorum raised $9 million.

In a tweet Monday morning, Obama thanked supporters for their contributions.

In February, 348,000 people donated to raise over $45 million for this campaign. Thank you.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 19, 2012

This story was updated at 7:55 a.m.

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