Romney Tops Republicans in Fundraising

Forbes ^ | 4/2/07 | Glen Johnson

[B Knotts]

Mitt Romney blew away the top-ranked Republican presidential candidates in fundraising during the first three months of the year, reporting he had raised an astonishing $23 million. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, favored in the polls, trailed far behind.

The former Massachusetts governor's first-quarter tally put him on a financial par with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the leading Democratic candidate. On Sunday, she reported raising $26 million.

"People are having a positive reaction to him and are willing to open up a vein for him," David King, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said of Romney.

Former New York Mayor Giuliani, who has amassed a sizable lead in national popularity polls of GOP candidates, reported raising $15 million this quarter - more than McCain, but still considerably behind Romney.

[B Knotts]

Interesting. And certaintly not what we were led to expect.

[flashbunny]

I was told rudy was the unstoppable fundraising king, a sure sign of his support among the conservative base and all that jazz.

Not a romney fan, but I’m enjoying the fact that he spanked rudy in fundraising.

[alicewonders]

I noticed the poll on Sean Hannity’s site that relates to the candidates:

From Feb. 5th -
Results: Which Republican would you vote for in ‘08 even if they aren’t officially running yet?
1. Rudy 29.75%
2. Newt 41.00%
3. Brownback 2.32%
4. Huckabee 3.93%
5. Condi 12.69%
6. Other 10.31%

And then from March 14th:
Results: What GOP candidate are you most likely to vote for even if they have not announced yet?
1. Newt Gingrich 17.54%
2. Rudy Giuliani 13.34%
3. Mike Huckabee 1.36%
4. Sec. of State Condi Rice 4.35%
5. Sen. Sam Brownback 1.68%
6. Sen. Fred Thompson 51.80%
7. Sen. John McCain 1.85%
8. Gov. Mitt Romney 8.08%

It seems Rudy’s momentum might be waning.

[B Knotts]

Exactly. I'm not for Romney either, but I found this fascinating, since Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Raise Enough Money To Beat Hillary^TM.

[B Knotts]

FYI PING

[B Knotts]

I think more and more of the “electability” types are realizing that Giuliani has too many problems on too many positions to realistically win the nomination without destroying the party in the process, and are now shifting to Fred Thompson.

[alicewonders]

Fred seems to have popped the air out of several balloons on that poll - Newt also. A lot of people were supporting Rudy because they didn’t think anyone else could win - I think if Fred announces he’s running, there will be a mass evacuation of Rudy support. In fact, I think you will even hear a “whooshing” sound when it happens!

[FastCoyote]

“People are having a positive reaction to him and are willing to open up a vein for him,” David King, a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, said of Romney.

I suspect it is mostly Mormon money. Romney doesn’t really have a broad constituency.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Fred Thompson BUMP

[MtnClimber]

Would not vote for Rudy even if Hitler was the opposition. I don’t see the difference between the Dem totalitarians and the repub totalitarians. Good to see that candidates like Fred Thompson, Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter are in the race. It will take work, but freedom was never free!!!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thompson will blow Guiliani away, the moment he announces he is running. After that, it will be a Thompson/Clinton race.

[JohnBovenmyer]

If you take away his personal loan Romney hauled in $20.6M in 1Q new money towards the primary campaign. Rudy raised about $14M and McCain about $12.4M by the same standard. Brownback raised $1.3M and Huckabee $0.4M that way as best I can tell. I saw a UK article in which Tancredo, who just formally entered the race, claimed about $1M, but haven’t seen any US articles confirming that. I haven’t seen any reports from Tommy Thompson, another recent entry, nor any from Duncan Hunter, a less recent entry with many vocal Freeper fans. One wonders whether, like Obama, they are too disorganized to report timely or whether they just don’t have any funds to report. Hillary reported $26M in new fund raising, but won’t breakdown how much of that is for the primary vs. how much is towards the general election. Rumors suggest Obama may end up in Romney’s neighborhood and Hillary’s, primary only, new take might end up less than Romney’s. Edwards took in $14M, Richardson $6M, Dodd $4M and Biden $3M in new funds. If after Obama’s numbers and Hillary’s breakdowns are in Romney really is the winner in new 1Q primary funds he will have earned some chest thumping. He might be the only candidate to have actually beaten Hillary in anything, he’d have done it in her presumed strength and he’d have done it from a level of name recognition she hadn’t known for 16 years. With GOP voters scrambling from bandwagon to bandwagon on the basis of electability that should help.

[Walkenfree]

I found this impressive article in April’s Newsmax about Mitt Romney; Found it very interesting.

[Walkenfree]

Oops, forgot the link;
‘ http://www.newsmax.com/romney/?s=al&promo_code=3087-1

[TAdams8591]

Ping! GO MITT!!!!!!!!!!

[ClaireSolt]

I am betting it will be Romney in the end.

[ilovew]

I don’t know that I would take a Sean Hannity poll as a sign for anything...

[Neu Pragmatist]

When they quit including Newt in every poll, Romney’s numbers will come up considerably.

Newt has too much baggage and will most likely endorse Romney .

[ilovew]

Mormon money? Wow...what a dumb comment.

[Neu Pragmatist]

Did Fred announce ? When ?