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Illustration: Patrick McQuade

He has the campaign-cash advantage.

Obama has raised $155 million through the third quarter of this year. Mitt Romney? Only $32 million. Obama raised $750 million for his 2008 campaign, allowing the man who passed campaign-contribution limits when he was a humble state senator to opt out of public financing. This time, his goal is to raise “north of” his ’08 record, possibly becoming the first billion-dollar candidate. And because he doesn’t have to spend donor money on a primary this time around (unlike his Republican opponent), all that cash goes to fighting in the main event.

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which lifted bans on corporate spending, was a victory for Republicans and a defeat for Obama, who has pledged not to take money from lobbyists or political action committees. But Obama’s support base is broader than the Republicans’, consisting of more than a million $10 and $25 donors, who helped him outspend John McCain four years ago.

“The Citizens United case will certainly pose problems for us in terms of fund-raising because the President has been very strong, for instance, in not taking PAC or lobbyist money,” Solow says. “Nevertheless, I am confident that the President is going to have enough money to run a campaign in every state and that while we may not have some type of overwhelming economic advantage over the total amount of money that will be put in by those who oppose the President, we’ll have more than enough money to carry on the fight and prevail in 2012.”

Additional reporting by Laura Baginski, Jason A. Heidemann, Jake Malooley and Martina Sheehan