Barack Obama's campaign gains $150 million in September while Mitt Romney creeps up the polls

Obama leads Romney in Gallup's daily tracking poll after debate boost fades

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Presidential candidates Mitt Romeny and Barack Obama

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As of yesterday, President Obama leads Mitt Romney once again in Gallup's daily tracking poll, after the Republican presidential hopeful got a boost from his debate performance last week.

But bright economic news released on Friday, which shows the unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8%, have helped restore Obama's lead.

'Romney definitely improved in Friday and Saturday polling among registered voters, but Obama did better Saturday and Sunday nights,' Jeffrey Jones of Gallup told Reuters.

The president now leads, 50% to 45%, among registered voters in the seven-day rolling average for October 1-7, according to Gallup.

The Democratic Party had their best fundraising month of the campaign cycle in September, reportedly raising $150 million or more.

Sources close to the campaign told the press they expected Obama's team to reveal the campaign has set a goal of duplicating September's total in October - a goal that, if achieved, would set the president and Democratic National Committee on track to reach an unprecedented haul of $1 billion for the 2012 cycle.

'People are fired up for Obama,' Steve Westly, a former California State Controller and major campaign fundraiser told USA Today. 'Obama has the facts on his side, the economy is improving and our side is larger than their side. Romney, to a large extent, is going to run out of time.'

A massive boost to Obama's fundraising in September came from the convention and Romney's remarks that 47 percent of the population who receive government funds are 'victims' and 'dependents.'

By the end of August, Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised a cumulative total of $742 million compared to roughly $630 million raised by Romney and the Republican National Committee, according to federal disclosures and news releases.

This race for the White House is on track to be the costliest in US history, with expensive media buys and on-the-ground operations in the nine swing states likely to determine the outcome of the November 6 election.

In August, Obama and the DNC reportedly raised more than $114 million, narrowly beating Romney's $111 million.

Meanwhile, prominent donors have echoed criticisms that Obama did not raise issues such as Romney's opposition to the auto bailout, his jobs record as a private equity executive or his 47 percent comments.

'Last night, people thought the president did not find his voice the way he should,' one major fund raiser told USA Today. 'That made them a little worried. So they threw in more money to make sure that that doesn't hurt us.'

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