Obama camp: We expected to be outraised by Romney in May

The Obama campaign on Thursday dismissed the news that it had been outraised by the Romney camp by more than $16 million during May, arguing that it had been expecting such a result all along.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) and President Obama. (FILES/AFP/Getty Images)“We anticipated that they would beat us this month,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said on a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon. “We’re focusing on continuing to grow our donor base.”

LaBolt noted that in May 2004, after wrapping up the Democratic nomination, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) bested incumbent President George W. Bush’s fundraising haul by two-to-one.

Kerry clinched the Democratic nod in March 2004; two months later, in May, he raised $26 million, double Bush’s $13 million.

“We knew this day would come,” LaBolt said. “Kerry outraised Bush 2-to-1 in May 2004, shortly after he wrapped up the nomination. The RNC and the Romney campaign just established their joint committee, which means all the primary donors ... can now go back and make that same contributions for the general.”

On Thursday’s conference call, the Obama camp also slammed Romney for stating that he will put his hundreds of millions of dollars in assets into a federal blind trust if elected president, but not while he remains a candidate.

Some independent experts have argued that the current trusteeship, overseen by Boston attorney R. Bradford Malt, does not qualify as a fully blind one in part because Malt has said he makes decisions based on what he believes to be Romney’s policy positions.

LaBolt argued Thursday that the arrangement raises “some serious questions.” Romney’s camp has maintained that the trust is a blind one and has accused the Obama campaign of seeking to distract voters’ attention away from economic issues.