$53 Million Raised in March by Obama and Democratic Party April 16, 2012, 8:19 am President Obama's campaign and the Democratic Party raised $53 million in March as the Republican primary wound down, Mr. Obama's campaign manager announced in a video Monday morning. The president has stepped up his fund-raising pace in anticipation of running against Mitt Romney, whose campaign has said it plans to raise as much as $600 million for the fall race against Mr. Obama. For months, the president has held joint fund-raisers with the Democratic National Committee and his victory committees, giving donors the ability to write checks up to $38,500. Now, Mr. Romney will begin holding joint fund-raisers as well, giving donors a one-stop shop for contributing to the campaign, the Republican National Committee and state parties. And both campaigns will be competing with the "super PACs," which will be scooping up big contributions that are not limited by federal law. But for the moment, the campaigns are bragging about the number of small donations they have received. Jim Messina, Mr. Obama's campaign manager, said in the video that 567,000 people donated to the campaign in March, and the average contribution was $50.78. "This really is how this works," Mr. Messina says in the video. People building this organization five or ten bucks at a time to take on Mitt Romney. The $53 million haul compares with the $45 million that was raised in February.