Washington, Feb 18 (IANS): US President Barack Obama raised over $29 million in January for his re-election campaign and the Democratic Party, it was announced Friday.

The number once again dwarfed Obama's Republican challengers in terms of fundraising capability. It also raised Obama's total fundraising in this election cycle to about $250 million, Xinhua reported.

The president continued to show his ability to attract small donors, with 98 percent of the donations in January for $250 or less, according to his campaign.

Obama received 48 percent of his total haul in 2011 from individual donors contributing $200 or less, according to the Campaign Finance Institute's study last week.

That stood in contrast to the grand old party. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, for instance, raised over $56 million from all donors in 2011, with only 9 percent coming from small donors.

The 2012 presidential campaign is expected to be the most expensive one in the US history as a previous Supreme Court ruling loosened restrictions on the outside spending -- most importantly those spent by the so-called super-PACs (political action committees) -- in presidential campaigns.