Romney's Fundraising Leaps as Candidate Fumbles

Romney's campaign provided the traveling press corps with little opportunity to speak with the struggling candidate throughout the trip, which culminated in a video-recorded outburst at Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by a Romney spokesman who blurted to reporters (who had been heckling the candidate and his team for comments): "Kiss my a**. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect."

For all of Romney's recent woes, Obama hasn't shown sustained momentum to separate himself from his GOP opponent.

The monthly jobs report released last Friday showed nonfarm payrolls swelled by 163,000 in July, much better than anticipated, but the unemployment rate still ticked up to 8.3% from June's 8.2%.

The U.S. manufacturing sector -- whose resurgence was once viewed as a hallmark of Obama's term -- contracted for the second consecutive month in July. Prior to June's slip, the factory sector hadn't contracted since July 2009, when the United States was still climbing out of the deep recession that followed the financial crisis.

With less than 100 days until the election, neither candidate appears to have a clear advantage heading into the stretch run. Though Obama and Romney will continue to rely on historic fundraising to stimulate some headway in the polls, voters aren't responding just yet.

-- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

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