Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with workers as he campaigns at Acme Industries in Elk Grove Village, Ill.,Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with workers as he campaigns at Acme Industries in Elk Grove Village, Ill.,Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney steps off his charter plane in Chicago before campaigning at Acme Industries in Elk Grove Village, Ill.,Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign fundraiser in Stamford, Conn., Monday, Aug., 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Limousines and motorcade vehicles for President Barack Obama are seen parked in the driveway outside the residence of movie producer Harvey Weinstein and fashion designer Georgina Chapman, Monday, Aug., 6, 2012 in Westport, Conn. Obama is attending a private dinner with 60 attendees at the residence. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Ann Romney, the wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, applauds after Jan Ebeling of United States riding Rafalca performance in the equestrian dressage team competition, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Lovetsky)
Both President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are sprinting through a gantlet of fundraisers as they race toward the party conventions just weeks away.
And it's taking them to some places where they probably wouldn't otherwise be spending much time seeking votes.
Romney campaigned Tuesday in the Chicago area, Obama's home turf. And Obama was raising funds in solidly Democratic Washington, D.C., at a hotel just two blocks from the White House. Those are hardly election battlegrounds for these candidates.
Obama makes frequent trips to New York City, also heavily Democratic, to raise cash. On Monday night, he had two fundraisers in nearby Connecticut.
In Stamford, he suggested his opponent's policies would benefit the wealthy at the expense of many middle-class families: "It's like Robin Hood in reverse. It's Romney Hood."
As candidates, both Romney and Obama have no problem taking from the rich as well as seeking smaller contributions from everybody else.
There'll be less time for that after the Republican convention in late August and the Democratic one in early September. So both candidates are making the most of the dwindling dog days of summer to haul in cash.
After Labor Day, there will be more large-scale rallies, town hall meetings and other forms of retail politicking. Also, preparing for the three presidential debates will eat up time and attention.
Without a major primary opponent, Obama began with a much larger stash than Romney, who faced fierce GOP competition.
But for the past three months, Romney has out-raised the president, collecting just over $101 million in July to Obama's $75 million.
The pressure is on, since both opted out of accepting federal campaign funds, as Obama alone had done in 2008.
Of course, neither is ignoring battleground states. Romney was flying to Iowa late Tuesday and Obama will campaign Wednesday in Colorado.
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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APCampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012
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