UPDATE 4-U.S. candidate Romney among fundraising leaders
* Romney tops fundraising from period in 2007By Kim Dixon and Patricia ZengerleWASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Mitt Romney’s campaign
raised more than $14 million in the third quarter, signaling
that the Republican U.S. presidential hopeful’s fundraising
remains robust despite shifts in opinion polls.Romney’s ability to raise cash was second among Republicans
only to that of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who hauled in $17
million in the same June to September period.It means both men have strong war chests as they head into
campaign battles in the early voting states of Iowa, New
Hampshire and South Carolina, which could play a huge role in
determining who wins the Republican nomination to oppose
President Barack Obama’s bid for re-election next year.”Money is critical partly because it helps send voters a
signal about which candidates are viable,” said Costas
Panagopoulos, director of a politics center at Fordham
University. “One of the things that put Obama on the map in
2008 was his ability to raise formidable sums of money.”Whoever wins the nomination will need fundraising prowess.
Obama and the Democratic Party together raised $70 million in
the third quarter, after amassing $86 million in the second,
and Obama does not need to finance a primary fight.Romney’s campaign also raised nearly half a million dollars
— $479,660 — from just six “bundlers,” major supporters who
gather money for a candidate from other donors.But it also boosted the percentage of donations in
increments of $200 or less, according to his regulatory filing,
about $2 million of the $14 million, or 14 percent. In the
second quarter, Romney only took in about 6 percent of his
total in such small amounts.Romney’s campaign also said it had almost $15 million in
cash on hand on Sept. 30.Although Romney has raised more than he did in his last
White House bid, his percentage of support in national polls
has held steady for months as he has failed to break through
and win the backing of even one in four Republican voters, even
as he remained first or second in national polls.Perry briefly passed Romney to become front-runner after he
launched his campaign in August, but he faded after a series of
missteps. Businessman Herman Cain now leads in some polls.GATHERING DOLLARS, NOT SUPPORTERSRomney, a former Massachusetts governor and co-founder of
the private equity firm Bain Capital, has the support of much
of the Republican establishment, but has yet to excite the
party’s conservative base.”He’s flatlined,” said Republican strategist Ford
O’Connell. Perry’s support was well over 30 percent but has
dropped by about half, while Cain’s has more than tripled to
the high teens in recent weeks as supporters move between the
two conservatives, not to Romney.Expectations had been that Romney and most other candidates
would pull in less cash in the third quarter than in the
previous three months, when Romney raised $18 million.The July through September fund-raising period is typically
weak, largely due to the summer vacation season.Candidates have until midnight on Saturday to file their
third-quarter fundraising reports with the Federal Election
Commission. The other Republican White House hopefuls are not
likely to pass the $10 million mark for the three months.Cain does not have a large fundraising operation and raised
only $2 million in the second quarter, but could see a bump
after a surprise straw poll win and his improved poll numbers.At this point in the 2007 Republican contest, Romney
reported $18 million - but he wrote himself an $8.5 million
check. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was leading in
some polls, had raised about $10 million.Romney, who dropped out in early 2008 after disappointing
primary showings, spent $35 million of his own funds in that
bid. Despite a personal fortune estimated at $250 million, he
has lent his campaign no funds so far for 2012.The 2012 U.S. election should be the priciest ever, with
Obama expected to raise more than his record $750 million from
2008. And newly relaxed U.S. fundraising laws will add hundreds
of millions of dollars from “Super Political Action
Committees,” officially deemed separate from campaigns, even
when devoted to electing particular candidates.”Let’s say Barack Obama raises a billion dollars. Awesome.
Let’s say the Koch brothers decide to contribute their pocket
change to a (competing) SuperPAC. Not so awesome anymore,” said
American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein.Ornstein was referring to the conservative David and
Charles Koch, of conglomerate Koch Industries, who are thought
to be planning to spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat
Obama and elect Republicans in 2012.
