WEST TISBURY, Mass. -- Mitt Romney says he needs to keep raising money at a furious pace because President Barack Obama broke all fundraising marks four years ago.

Romney's staff says the GOP presidential candidate will raise nearly $7 million from events Friday and Saturday on New York's Long Island, in Boston and on the Massachusetts resort areas of Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and Nantucket.

Romney told reporters on Martha's Vineyard that he wishes he could spend more time campaigning in competitive states.

He notes that Obama was the first president to reject federal funding for the general election and the spending limits that go with such taxpayer-supplied funds.