Obama nears record-breaking fund-raising mark of $1 bn

In a major boost to his re-election bid, US President Barack Obama raised a whopping $181 million last month taking the total amount in his kitty to nearly $947 million so far, nearing the record-breaking billion-dollar mark in the run-up to the polls.

With a month to go for the November 6 Presidential polls, the Obama Campaign is expected to cross the magic figure of $1 billion in this election cycle.

This would be for the first time that any candidate would raise more than a billion dollars in an election cycle.

"More on what it means that 1,825,813 people raised $181 million for the campaign and combined committees in September," Obama announced on the social networking site Twitter, where he has more than 20.5 million followers.

"We not only surpassed 10 million donations so far in 2012 to the campaign and the Democratic Party -- a historic record for grassroots politics. We also raised $181 million in September from 1.8 million Americans -- more than 567,000 of whom gave for the first time. That's by far our biggest month yet," Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to his supporters.

The average donation was $53, and 98% of the contributions were $250 or less.

In August, the Obama Campaign had raised $141 million.

The Romney campaign has not announced its numbers for September. However, the Romney campaign spokesperson, Andrea Saul, announced on Twitter that after the successful Denver debate it raised more than $12 million in less than 48 hours.

"Post #debate @MittRomney raised more than $12 million in less than 48 hours. Night of, more than 2 donations/second," she said.

Romney, meanwhile tweeted, asking his supporters to donate. "A clear choice. America can't afford another four years like the last. Donate $15 now."