1. The Funds Raised category is listed as "total receipts" by the FEC and is calculated as the sum of total contributions (itemized individual contributions, unitemized individual contributions, party committees contributions, other committees contributions, and candidate contributions), total loans, total offsets, and other receipts.
The totals in the Funds Raised column link to a page on the FEC website that lists individuals and committees who gave to that candidate.
2. The Funds Spent category is listed as "total disbursements" by the FEC and is calculated as the sum of operating expenditures, transfers to authorized committees, total loan repayments, total contribution refunds (individual refunds, political party refunds, and other committee refunds), and other disbursements.
The totals in the Funds Spent column link to a PDF of that candidate's financial summary page, obtained from the FEC website.
3. Bachmann, Obama, and Romney have an Amount Remaining balance that does not equal the difference between funds raised and funds spent. We contacted the FEC on Nov. 17, 2011 to determine why the numbers do not match. The FEC told us that the numbers posted on its website are exactly what the candidates have reported, so the discrepancies could be due to a reporting error or some other reason. In the case of Barack Obama, for example, the committee could have cash on hand from the previous election.
*The Funds Raised and Funds Spent figures shown for Michele Bachmann are the sum of her principal and authorized committees. The FEC combined the funds raised and spent by both committees, but did not subtract the authorized committee's debt from the "cash on hand" figure displayed in the Amount Remaining column.
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