Mitt Romney Leading GOP in Fundraising---$ 23 Million

[Regis Philbin]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070402191528.ffkr6hqs&show_article=1&catnum=1

White House race awash in dollars

Apr 2 03:15 PM US/Eastern


Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has stashed 23 million dollars in his 2008 war chest this year, beating party rivals Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain in a key early test of the race for the White House.

The latest stunning multi-million dollar declaration by an Oval Office hopeful Monday followed a first-quarter 2007 fundraising deadline, in what is tipped to become the most expensive US election in history.

So far, Republican and Democratic candidates have reported pulling in more than 80 million dollars in combined campaign fundraising for the first three months of the year, smashing the record of 30.9 million set in the corresponding period of the 2004 campaign.

The running count does not include figures from strong Democratic challenger Senator Barack Obama, who some experts expect may have reached 20 million dollars.

Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton has made the most money so far in 2007, obliterating individual records by raising 26 million dollars, and pumping another 10 million from her Senate account into her 2008 treasure trove.

Romney, vying to become America's first Mormon president, raised 20.6 million dollars to be used in the fight for the Republican nomination and loaned his campaign a further 2.3 million dollars, aides to the former Massachusetts governor said Monday.

[Regis Philbin]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3000800


GOP Fundraising Hits New Highs

WASHINGTON Apr 2, 2007 (AP)— Republican Mitt Romney reported raising $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year, a surprising tally for a relative newcomer and an amount rivaling the total reported a day earlier by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Meanwhile, the GOP front-runner in the polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his donations totaled $15 million including more than $10 million during March alone.

Both Republican numbers blew away past party presidential fundraising standards, while Romney's figure put the former Massachusetts governor in competition with Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. The New York senator on Sunday reported raising $26 million between Jan. 1 and March 31.

"Facing opponents in an extremely competitive fundraising field who enjoy universal name identification and the clear advantage of existing networks of contributors, Governor Romney's fundraising totals are indicative of the extraordinary success the campaign has had at building an organization and stirring excitement among grassroots activists responding to his message," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.

Romney was a venture capitalist whose only public service experience was running the 2002 Winter Olympics before he was elected to a single term as governor later that year.

Giuliani, who conversely had moved from politics to private business in recent years, said he has raised nearly $17 million since he formed his presidential exploratory committee in November. He also had $11 million cash on hand as of Saturday, the end of the first quarter.

[Regis Philbin]

Mitt Romney made his millions by buying struggling companies and turning them around and then selling them. He's not one to give up easily and he knows how to work through adversity.

He is the darkhorse in this race...

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/04/03/cq_2506.html


Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix: Romney Profits in GOP Race

By Craig Crawford, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY

Published: April 3, 2007

It’s not just the big bucks that earned Mitt Romney a turn at the presidential campaign spotlight. The former Massachusetts governor’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination was gaining steam even before yesterday’s announcement that he had raised $20 million in the first quarter of this year.

While the news media’s attention has dwelled on other GOP hopefuls, Romney has swooped in at critical turning points with impressive results — such as winning a recent straw ballot at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., despite being overshadowed by the news coverage of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s much-hyped speech.

Some GOPers say that Romney’s impressive fundraising performance puts him in line to get a nod from George W. Bush’s elite supporters, or maybe even the president himself down the road. Romney’s wealth and corporate style is akin to that of the president’s inner circle — and his first-quarter earnings might just meet the cover charge for the president’s club.