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Mitt $ocks Barack: Wins fund race with 2nd $100M month

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WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney beat President Obama again.

The Republican topped Obama in fund-raising for a third consecutive month, hauling in $101 million in July to Obama’s mere $75 million, according to totals announced yesterday by the campaigns.

It was the second month in a row that Romney and the Republican Party raised more than $100 million. Obama has yet to hit the six-figure mark.

“Once again we see that for many people, this is more than a campaign — it is a cause,” boasted Romney finance chairman Spencer Zwick.

Obama and the Democratic Party did catch up slightly with Romney’s fund-raising pace. Obama in June collected just $71 million, $35 million less than Romney’s $106 million haul.

The Romney campaign said it had $185.9 million in the bank at the end of July. Almost all of it is general election money that he can’t spend until after the Republican National Convention later this month.

Team Obama did not announce its cash on hand. But Obama’s campaign has been rapidly burning through its war chest.

Obama enjoyed a $90 million advantage over Romney when the race started in earnest in April. Obama then went on a TV ad spree and by the end of June had $26 million less in the bank than Romney’s $170 million.

The July money totals arrived as Obama jetted to Connecticut for a pair of fund-raising events expected to net $2.5 million.

The first was a $500-per-head reception at the Stamford Marriott and the second was a $35,800-per-plate dinner party at movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s mansion.

Romney spent the day running errands to the hardware, grocery and drug stores in Wolfeboro, NH, where he’s spending a few days at his summer home.

He left the small town’s grocer with fresh corn and soft drinks. “I’ve got some folks coming over today,” he told reporters, referring to top campaign advisers convening at his estate.

Meanwhile, the GOP suggested Obama chief political strategist David Axelrod was the source of an inflammatory accusation by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Romney hadn’t paid taxes for 10 years.

Axelrod denied it.

“Instead of pointing fingers in every direction, they can put the whole matter to rest by simply . . . releasing the returns,” he said.

Additional reporting by Gerry Shields