Romney Tracker

Romney Keeps Fundraising Despite Pumping Millions Into Campaign

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

Mitt Romney's millions aren't limitless, nor is his willingness to spend them, so the Republican presidential contender has begun taking valuable time from his primary campaign to raise money from outsiders.

Once in Massachusetts the day after the New Hampshire primary, three times here in Florida this weekend and three more times this coming week in California, Romney has scheduled fundraisers to underwrite the expense of his campaign.

He once hoped to cut the race short with back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. But second-place finishes in both states extended his fight at least through the virtual national primary on Feb. 5.

Rivals have accused the former venture capitalist of trying to buy the White House with personal donations thought to exceed $35 million. Romney's wealth has been estimated at up to $250 million.

Romney insists he's trying to blend his own fortune with outside money to avoid the problems other candidates have faced.

Mike Huckabee has had to curtail campaigning for lack of funds. John McCain has taken to Web advertising as a supplement to more costly TV commercials. Rudy Giuliani had to leave the campaign trail in Florida last week to restock his campaign kitty with fundraisers in New York.

"I always want to get as much money as we can from individual contributors," Romney told reporters Saturday. "That has been the majority of the funding for my campaign. And it's an important part of keeping the campaign going."

Through Sept. 30, the date for the most recent federal campaign finance reports, Romney led the Republican field with $63 million in contributions. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, had $47 million, while McCain had $32 million. Romney has argued that if you set aside the $17.35 million he donated to his committee, the $45 million he raised for the primaries still outpaced the field.

Giuliani's take includes $5 million that can only be spent on a prospective general election campaign, leaving his primary account at $40 million.

Updated reports, showing contributions through Dec. 31, are due at the end of the month. Overall fundraising is expected to be up only marginally in the fourth quarter, but Romney's personal contribution is expected to double, given the heavy advertising undertaken by the former Massachusetts governor in the early voting states.

"All the candidates have limited time this month for fundraisers given the need for an aggressive political schedule as primary voting takes place, but we are raising the money we need," said Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.

Romney aides say the challenge under the succession of primary and caucus contests is finding time to replenish the campaign account.

Elections are held once or twice a week. State staffs are trying to get Romney to hit key locales in vote-rich areas and the campaign has been trying to make greater use of free exposure through media coverage after Romney spent over $7 million on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire and still finished second.

The campaign saw an uptick in fundraising after Romney posted his first major win in the Michigan primary, and aides are hoping for a repeat if their boss can finish strong in Florida on Tuesday.

Romney had hoped to tap a gusher the day after the New Hampshire primary, scheduling a "national call day" in Boston the morning after so some of his top supporters could solicit donations from their business and social networks.

While Romney didn't win, his supporters garnered $1.5 million in fresh donations for his primary campaign and $3.5 million to set aside in the event he mounts a general election campaign.

Aides say Romney would likely forgo public financing for a general election campaign, believing he can raise $150 million with relatively little effort. The total amount the federal government is expected to offer candidates who remain within the public financing system will be closer to $80 million.

Romney dismissed the criticism of his own donations during a debate last week in Florida.

"I can't imagine having gone to my friends and asked them to do what they've done, going out and raising money in my behalf, without saying I'm going to put some of my contribution behind this effort as well," Romney said.

Romney Is His Own Biggest Campaign Donor

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

Mitt Romney once said financing his own campaign would be a "nightmare." Writing checks, he said this week, is "painful." It doesn't seem to be stopping him. Romney is his presidential campaign's most generous supporter, lending $17.5 million from his personal fortune so far. His Republican rivals are bracing themselves for him to do it again. And again.

Romney is hardly the first presidential candidate to cut himself a check -- Steve Forbes and Ross Perot spent far more than he has. But the businessman-turned-politician, who can raise money AND open his wallet, may have the best chance to win the presidency.

The former Massachusetts governor has two more shots at testing what his money can do to supplement his campaign's finances and help him win the GOP nomination. The first is during the 90 days left before the early presidential contests of Iowa and New Hampshire. If he survives those, he can spend again in the last weeks of January before the make-or-break primaries in Florida, New York, California, New Jersey.

"The Romney strategy is very clear -- win Iowa, get a bounce to New Hampshire, win New Hampshire and write yourself a check for the Feb. 5 states and start advertising," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns but is unaffiliated this election.

If Romney writes himself a sizable check in January, his spending might be evident, but the size of his contribution would not be a public record until mid-February, well after the nomination is likely to be sewn up. That could protect Romney from voters who would object to a candidate "buying" the nomination.

But Jennifer A. Steen, a political scientist at Boston College who has written extensively on self-financed candidates, believes the public doesn't care if a wealthy candidate writes his campaign checks.

"What I've noticed is that it has been terribly frustrating for opponents of self-financers that their own outrage at self-financing is not shared by the voters," Steen said

Compared to candidates like Forbes and Perot, Romney is a piker. Perot pumped $63 million into his failed 1992 presidential contest. Forbes contributed about $38 million in each of his unsuccessful White House bids, in 1996 and 2000.

Unlike those millionaires, Romney entered the presidential race with a political pedigree.

He had run for the Senate against Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and had been elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002.

Overall, Romney has receipts of about $62 million, with $45 million raised from about 100,000 donors this year. That means he has dipped into his pocket for 28 percent of his total. In his 2002 gubernatorial campaign he had $9.4 million in receipts, of which $6.3 million came from him.

This year, Romney's personal contributions have been increasing as his fundraising has been declining. In the first quarter, he lent his campaign $2 million. In the next three months, he put in $6.85 million. This summer, he contributed $8.5 million. Meanwhile, his donations dropped from $21 million in the first three months to $10 million this past quarter.

Advisers say he is prepared to give to his campaign as long as it seems reasonable he can win.

Romney faces no great personal risk in supporting his candidacy. His assets are estimated at between $190 million and $250 million -- or, as he has described it, "a bloomin' fortune."

Last week, while campaigning in California, Romney said supporting his own candidacy keeps him free of special interest influences.

"My family, that's the only one I'm really beholden to," he said wryly. "They're the ones who let their inheritance slip away, dollar by dollar."

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, he said he had placed a limit on how much he would be willing to spend, but he wouldn't disclose it. "My wife isn't telling!" he joked.

After nine months of campaigning, Romney's campaign reported this week that he had $9 million cash on hand. That's less than his rival Rudy Giuliani, who has $12 million in the bank for the primary contests. But it is more than other GOP contenders.

Strategists and advisers for various campaigns say they are watching Romney's money closely and trying to divine if and when he plans to spend more.

"All of his money reaches a point of diminishing returns at some point if everyone has enough money to run a good campaign in the last two or three weeks" before the January contests," said Charlie Black, an adviser to Republican John McCain. "His money advantage happened early in the year and now. He can be out there advertising in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina before other people could afford to."

Indeed, Romney has spent nearly $10 million in radio and television advertising since early in the year, building up his name recognition both nationally and in those early states. In national polls, he still lags behind other leading Republicans. But he went from being an unknown to leading the polls in Iowa. In New Hampshire, where he is far more familiar as the governor of a neighboring state, he is in a close contest with Giuliani.

"Romney has had to spend and do more to get to where he is now," said GOP strategist Greg Mueller, who advised Forbes' 2000 campaign. "One of the challenges for Romney is how do they keep it fresh. Money can help you do that."

As the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary draw nearer, television markets in the two states will become saturated. Candidates will be competing against Christmas ads, and advertising time will get booked up.

"It's not easy to get access to the airwaves, even if you seem to have the ability to drop a significant chunk of resources at one time," said Eric Ueland, a former top aide to Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist and now a supporter of Fred Thompson's presidential campaign.

Ueland, stressing that he was not speaking for Thompson's campaign, said candidates facing a self-financed opponent like Romney need to be prepared to respond.

"If you know that a hurricane could bear down on you, then you make sure your structure is as strong as possible," he said.

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Associated Press writer Glen Johnson contributed to this story.

Romney Returns to Utah Stressing Conservative Values

By DAVID BURGER
Associated Press Writer

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a commitment to conservative values Friday while reaffirming his connection to Utah during a rally at the Salt Palace.

Several hundred volunteers in the convention center called friends to solicit contributions for the Romney campaign.

"Holy cow," Romney told volunteers in a 10-minute speech during the six-hour fundraising effort. "We're making a lot of money."

The rally was one of more than 50 events across the country this week to build support at the grassroots level, Romney advisers said.

As Romney walked around kissing babies and shaking hands, callers received color-coded balloons for reaching certain goals. After 45 minutes, a fundraiser was close to receiving a green balloon for raising $10,000.

Romney and his campaign crew told volunteers that much of the money would be used to buy ads in early primary states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The adoring crowd listened to him talk about his leadership at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He also talked about his respect for life and family values.

"Marriage comes before babies," Romney said.

Romney said he wants to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and defeat "jihadists" in the Middle East. He criticized Democratic presidential candidates while refusing to set a timeline to pull troops from Iraq.

"We're not going to turn left and follow Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards," he said.

Romney campaign aides barred reporters from attempting to interview the fundraisers.

Before the candidate arrived, his son, Josh, and Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert gave talking points to people making the calls. Herbert called Romney's candidacy the "Romney rocket."

Josh Romney recalled how hard it was to get money from his father when he was younger. After asking about 100 questions, the elder Romney only gave him half of what he wanted.

The crowd cheered when the son said Romney would put liberals like U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in knots by cutting government spending.

Romney's political director, Spencer Zwick, told the fundraisers to emphasize that low support in national polls was no indication of how well the candidate was doing in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"We are winning in those early primary states," Zwick said.

GOP Candidate Romney, Democrat Clinton in Suburban Cincinnati

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has stopped in suburban Cincinnati for a private fundraiser, the second visit this year for the former Massachusetts governor.

A day later, he's being followed by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, making a similar trip to Indian Hill. It will be the Democrat's first visit to the upscale suburb as a presidential candidate.

Romney's appearance Tuesday was at the home of Craig Lindner, co-CEO of American Financial Group, whose family also helped raise money for President Bush and his father, the former president.

Clinton planned a visit to the home of trial lawyer Stan Chesley, who was a prominent fund raiser for former President Bill Clinton.

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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com

Mitt Romney Raises Nearly $90,000 During Ala. Stop

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised almost $90,000 for his Republican presidential campaign during a brief stop in north Alabama that did not include any public appearance.

Romney gave a 30-minute speech to 120 supporters, who were to pay $1,000 per couple, or $2,300 if they wanted to have a photo taken with the candidate.

Romney answered questions about Iran, China, illegal immigration and health care while at the reception in the home of a physician and his wife.

Romney didn't acknowledge members of the media gathered outside the event. Stan McDonald of Huntsville, a member of Romney's presidential campaign statewide finance committee, said the whole purpose of the visit was to raise money.

Mayor Loretta Spencer was McDonald's guest at the reception. She also met with former New York Mayor Rudolph and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., when they came to town.

"I'm interested in meeting all of the candidates," she said.

Spencer said Romney was an eloquent speaker who earned lots of applause from the guests, especially when he talked about securing the borders and keeping out illegal immigrants.

"There was also a lot of clapping when he talked about doing away with the death tax," Spencer said. "That went over really well."

Romney to Hold Private Fundraiser in Huntsville

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to attend a private fundraising reception this evening in Huntsville.

Invitations say the $1,000-per-couple event will be held at the home of Dennis and Tammy Oliver.

Romney was last in Alabama in February, when he spoke to a Republican Party dinner in Montgomery.

Romney Schedules Raleigh Fundraiser Thursday

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will hold a fundraiser Thursday night at the home of a Carolina Hurricanes executive in the former Massachusetts governor's first political visit to the state since announcing his presidential bid.

Guests at the Raleigh home of Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford and his wife will pay $500 per person to attend the event, with others paying more for a photograph and special reception with Romney, said Hill Carrow, state coordinator for the campaign.

Carrow said he hopes the event will raise at least $100,000.

"We're still trying to count our RSVPs," Carrow said. "We don't want him to come and go without taking a significant sum with him."

The fundraiser will be closed to the media, a Romney spokeswoman said. It's the only scheduled event for Romney on this North Carolina trip, Carrow said.

Romney Leads Presidential Hopefuls in Valley Contributions

Republican Mitt Romney has raised more campaign contributions in the San Joaquin Valley than any other presidential hopeful, according to the most recent campaign filings.

Romney has raised $108,200 compared to $60,100 by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and $34,225 by Arizona Sen. John McCain, both fellow Republicans.

Democratic candidates raised far less in the valley, which tends to favor Republicans in presidential races. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton raised $1,000 in Fresno. She has raised $250,000 in San Francisco since April 1.

Meanwhile, officials in Fresno are calling on the presidential candidates to come to the city for more than fundraisers. The city council voted unanimously Tuesday to invite White House hopefuls before the state's Feb. 5 presidential primary to address local concerns at a town hall meeting.

"The issues and challenges that face our city and the region are just as serious here in Fresno as they are in any other community around the nation," said council member Brian Calhoun.

Colorado Donors Come Through for Obama, Romney

By COLLEEN SLEVIN
Associated Press Writer

Republicans and Democrats jostling for their parties' presidential nominations have reaped $2.9 million in donations from Coloradans, including nearly $1 million for Democrat Barack Obama and $500,000 for Republican Mitt Romney.

Democrats have had the most success, raising $1.62 million to date, compared with $1.24 million for GOP candidates, according to federal campaign reports filed this week.

Obama's $928,555 in overall donations from Colorado is tops among all candidates. It includes $363,631 in the quarter ended June 30.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who visited Colorado Wednesday, is second overall and first among Republicans with $495,408.

But Republican Rudy Giuliani has been gaining steam. The former New York mayor has raised $272,861 in Colorado so far, including $174,510 in the past three months.

Romney collected $144,083 in the past three months.

Giuliani contributors include Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, former Denver Nuggets player and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe and his wife, Peggy, and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman and his wife, Kristen.

Elway gave Giuliani the maximum allowable, $2,300, in the first quarter. Having such a big name on his donor list is a plus, said GOP political consultant Katy Atkinson.

"When everyone's trying to break out, it draws attention to you, it lends credibility," said Atkinson, who donated $1,000 to Romney's campaign in February.

Romney has also picked up contributions from Philip Anschutz, the billionaire founder of Qwest Communications International Inc., and his wife, Nancy, and son, Christian.

Also chipping in to Romney campaign were former state GOP chairman Bruce Benson and his wife, Marcy, as well as former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez and his wife, Claudia.

McCain brought in $172,808 in the second quarter and has $255,773 overall.

Big Democratic donors in Colorado have been spreading their support to several different candidates.

Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards have each received $2,300 from Fort Collins billionaire Pat Stryker.

Software pioneer Tim Gill, founder of Quark Inc., gave $2,300 each to Edwards and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and $1,000 to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

Both Stryker and Gill have been major contributors to Democratic candidates in state elections.

Independent pollster Floyd Ciruli said it's not unusual for big donors to support a range of candidates this early in the campaign because they have connections with most of them.

"It is really largely a practical courtesy. There will be a time when it sorts itself out," he said.

Dodd has also gotten donations from lawyers Norman Brownstein, Steven Farber and Tom Strickland. Ciruli said Dodd has worked a lot with the attorneys because of their lobbying in Washington.

Brownstein has also donated to Clinton.

Richardson is second among Democrats in overall fundraising in Colorado with $280,205. He brought in $129,505 in the second quarter.

He is a frequent visitor to Colorado and has strong ties in the state after stumping for Democratic candidates such as Sen. Ken Salazar and former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, Ciruli said.

He said many Colorado Democrats believe Richardson understands such Western issues as water, energy and public lands.

"He just has lots and lots of connections, political and business, that he can call on," said Ciruli.

Ciruli said he has not donated to any presidential candidate.

Clinton is third among Democrats in overall fundraising in Colorado with $189,708. She reported raising $120,373 in the last three months but likely got a big boost in the current quarter from an Aspen fundraiser this month.

Dodd has raised $63,200 in Colorado, including $16,200 in the second quarter.

Romney Spending Outpaces Fundraising

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

Mitt Romney's campaign found 9,732 ways to spend its money last quarter.

From a $15 service fee for its travel agent to $300 for makeup work to $31,500 to rent the Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park for a celebratory barbecue, the Republican presidential contender was anything but fiscally conservative in spending money as fast as he raised it between April and June.

Based on the report Romney filed with the Federal Election Commission over the weekend, his spending was so prolific he had to lend his committee $6.5 million during the quarter, allowing him to cover the difference between $20.5 million he spent and the $14 million he raised.

That loan also means that, for all intents and purposes, Romney has personally paid for every second of the $4.9 million in television ads his campaign has aired since he formally declared his candidacy in February.

And while the former venture capitalist's personal wealth may be declining, that of his cadre of Washington advisers is skyrocketing. Barbara Comstock, a former Justice Department official who is an expert in opposition research, is being paid $15,000 per month. Patton Boggs, the well-connected Washington law firm, is on a $35,000 monthly retainer.

Alex Castellanos, Romney's media adviser, may be doing best of all. All of Romney's advertising money -- $4.9 million -- has flowed through his Virginia firm, National Media Inc., and its affiliate, Midnight Ride Media. Political ad firms typically make a commission as high as 15 percent, which would leave Castellanos with up to $732,000 for the quarter if Romney did not negotiate a flat fee or lower commission rate.

Asked how much he is pocketing from the Romney campaign, Castellanos replied by e-mail: "Everything else, I think, is in the secret plan, which is in the lead box in the cave in the vault."

Kevin Madden, Romney's top spokesman, defended the extensive ad spending, saying it helps explain why Romney is leading in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, even if he trails GOP rivals Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson nationally.

"We're still in the introductory phase of the campaign, so investing in television spots allows us to introduce Mitt Romney and his platform of ideas to many voters for the first time. It helps us build awareness and get the governor's message across, and the result has been a growing level of support for his campaign," Madden said.

Romney, 60, has a reputation as a cautious businessman, priding himself on ingesting volumes of data before continuing with a business deal. The approach has paid off: His net worth is estimated at up to $250 million.

As a politician, he's also cast himself as a fiscal conservative, vowing to limit government spending and veto excesses.

And Romney has dismissed financing his own campaign, saying in January that donating any of his personal wealth to his campaign would be "akin to a nightmare." Rather, he said he planned to seek support from a broad grass-roots network.

Romney ended up lending the campaign $2.35 million in the first quarter, and as of July 1, the total had climbed to $8.9 million.

That makes Romney the largest source of money for his campaign. He and his staff have also been no slouches at spending.

Package delivery by FedEx runs page after page in the report, even though items are listed 500 to a page. Romney is pouring hundreds of thousands monthly into his Web site, which recently featured a miniaturized image of him walking onto the screen, encouraging donations.

Another $300 also went for makeup services before the first Republican debate in California in May. It was listed in the report as "communications consulting" because the fee was paid by Romney's communications staff.

Romney's also spent tens of thousands just on finance consultants, including $15,000 per month to Rainmaker Sports and Entertainment in Sandy, Utah, a venture run by Blake M. Roney, chairman of Nu Skin Enterprises, and Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz basketball team and the Delta Center, their Salt Lake City home.

Catering expenses have included $2,300 to the HyVee supermarket in West Des Moines, Iowa, and $6,100 to Chef Molly's Gourmet Solutions in Laguna Hills, Calif.

Both were pikers compared to the money Romney spent last month when he brought about 500 fundraisers to Boston for a party at Fenway Park and then a phone-a-thon the following day at the TD Banknorth Garden, home to the Boston Celtics and Bruins.

Besides the $31,500 rent for Fenway, Romney spent $40,000 on catering for the crowd. The Garden charges were listed only as "staging," but they totaled $70,000.

The campaign spent another $21,000 on buses.

Romney's cadre of consultants, meanwhile, have not been shy about charging for their expertise.

Tom Rath, a prominent New Hampshire GOP consultant, is being paid $12,500 per month for strategic advise. Warren Tompkins, the former GOP executive director in South Carolina, is getting $12,000 monthly. Spencer Zwick, Romney's finance director, is being paid $25,000 per month. His campaign manager, Beth Myers, is being paid at a rate of $100,000 annually.

Jay Garrity, the personal aide who shadowed Romney until he was accused last month of impersonating a law enforcement officer in two states, had an annual salary of $56,000. He remains on paid leave.