LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Republicans began October with $191.2 million in reserves. The funds went immediately out on advertising, get-out-the-vote efforts, staff, offices, rallies and other campaigning in the weeks before the November 6 election.

In contrast, Obama and the Democratic National Committee already have reported raising $181 million last month, the best thus far in the most expensive presidential election campaign in U.S. history.

Romney's position also weakened in the polls as a result of the new focus shifting to the Democratic Party Convention. A secretly filmed video that went viral also showed Romney calling 47 percent of Americans who receive government funds "victims."

Romney did make gains earlier this month when he delivered a strong performance against Obama in the first presidential debate on October 3. The debate helped build donations enabling Romney to gain on the president.

"With less than one month left, we will continue the hard work of raising the resources to ensure that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can win in November and bring real change to the American people," Spencer Zwick, Romney's finance chairman says.

Obama has since regained a slim lead in the race. A Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll yesterday showed him at 47 percent compared with Romney's 45 percent.

"This race is tied," Obama said in an email to supporters. "What we do over the next 22 days will determine not just the next four years, but what this country looks like for decades to come."

Both Romney and the RNC have fundraised together since April, pulling cash into their separate funds as well as a joint account known as the "Romney Victory."

The majority of the Republican cash had been sitting under wraps until this week, when new filings showed that in the third quarter of the year, the joint fund raised $235.2 million, which beat the second quarter haul of $140.3 million.

However, at least $214.4 million does not belong to the Romney campaign. A donor can only give $35,800 to benefit a candidate and the party and at most $5,000 of that can go into the candidate's coffers.

Anything given beyond that amount to the Romney Victory fund is slated to benefit state Republican parties, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.