Romney has $45 million edge for homestretch

• Money will fuel advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts
• Presidential campaign crosses $2 billion mark
• Campaigns ask supporters for more money

WASHINGTON — Republican Mitt Romney and allied party committees entered the election homestretch with a $45 million cash advantage over President Obama and the Democratic Party, new campaign reports show.

Romney, the Republican National Committee and a joint fundraising organization out-raised the president's fundraising operation by $21 million during the first 17 days of October and ended the period with $169.1 million available cash in the bank. Obama and Democrats, by contrast, had nearly $124 million in cash reserves as both campaigns move into a frenzy of round-the-clock stumping, non-stop attack ads and get-out-the-vote efforts.

The fundraising activity during first two weeks of October coincides with the first two presidential debates and Romney's rise in the polls.

Romney also is benefiting from spending by deep-pocketed outside groups. Restore Our Future, a super PAC, run by former Romney aides, raised $20.2 million through Oct. 17, surpassing the $13 million collected by a pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA.

Nearly half the the sum collected by the pro-Romney group came from Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his physician wife, Miriam, who gave $10 million. Adelson, who has pledged to do "whatever it takes" to end Obama's presidency, and his wife now have donated $57.2 million to super PACs to influence the election – an unprecedented amount of political spending by individual donors.

The Adelsons also are working to sway the outcome of congressional races, new Federal Election Commission filings show. Adelson gave $1.5 million to a super PAC aiding Republican George Allen in his Virginia Senate battle with Democrat Tim Kaine, and $1 million to a group backing the re-election of Rep. Allen West, a first-term Republican from Florida.

The Adelsons also donated $1 million to the Ending Spending Fund, a super PAC created by TD Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts. Ricketts' group has spent more than $4 million in recent weeks on anti-Obama advertising, mailing and door-knocking.

The pro-Obama PAC drew last-minute. $1 million donations from new and veteran Democratic donors, including billionaire financier George Soros and Alida Rockefeller Messinger, a philanthropist and Standard Oil heir who helped fund Democrats' political activity in the 2004 election.

Obama has heavily courted Silicon Valley executives in his re-election campaign, and his super PAC received $1 million contributions from two technology heavy-hitters, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems, and Mark Pincus, CEO of the social-media gaming company Zynga.

This week's FEC reports, the final financial snapshot before Election Day, show fundraising by the presidential contenders and their parties has crossed the $2 billion threshold. Both campaigns told their supporters they still need more money in the days ahead.

"As the Romney campaign and their super PAC allies continue to outspend us on the air, we're making every effort to expand our donor base heading into the final stretch," Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said.

"There are less than two weeks left, but we still have much hard work to do to ensure that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win in November and bring real change to Washington," Romney finance chairman Spencer Zwick said in a statement.

Contributing: Gregory Korte