Obama Fundraising
Still, Obama isn't lagging in fundraising. He reported raising $88 million through Sept. 30, exceeding his record fundraising pace of four years ago.
Unlike Obama, Romney is facing a nomination fight, and fundraisers like Schwarzman, 64, will be important to sustaining his campaign.
"The key resource for that kind of fight is money," Duprey said. "Those who have it can fight in the later contests," he said. "Those who don't, can't."
While the Blackstone chairman wasn't a major fundraiser for McCain in 2008 and didn't become involved until later in the process, according to Duprey and financial disclosure reports, he collected more than $100,000 for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.