The second most important chart of the 2012 election (Hint: $$$)

On Friday, we presented readers with what we called the “most important chart of the 2012 election” — based on newly reported unemployment stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three days later, we’re able to update the second most important chart of the 2012 election: the race for campaign cash. And it paints another potentially grim picture for President Obama, who was outraised by $35 million in June.

Here are his fundraising numbers, compared to Mitt Romney's, for the first six months of this year.

Equally interesting is how quickly Obama’s cash on hand advantage has declined.

Here are the cash on hand numbers reported by each camp for each month of the year (note: Obama’s campaign has not yet announced a cash on hand figure for June, but we’re expecting something close to parity):

A key sidebar here: None of this money includes funds raised or spent by super PACs and other outside groups — an area where Republicans have a HUGE advantage these days. If Romney’s campaign and the Republican National Committee are outspending and outraising Obama by themselves, the gap will only be increased by outside groups.