Newest Campaign Reports Show Ramped-Up Chase for Cash
Originally published on Open Secrets by Evan Mackinder
Even as supporters of Mitt Romney supporters celebrated his big win in the Florida GOP presidential primary Tuesday night, the Romney campaign officially reported that he’d beat the competition in fundraising, too, logging $24 million between October and December.
That’s a daunting figure, and one that his remaining Republican rivals in the race for the White House can’t touch. Indeed, by the end of 2011, Romney had raised more money than Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul combined. (Those three raised a combined $41 million through the end of December.)
Still, the fundraising of Romney’s rivals showed signs of accelerating during the fourth quarter, as the race ramped up and entered early-voting states.
Paul, whose die-hard libertarian following helped him to a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and second place in the New Hampshire primary, raised $13.3 million during the fourth quarter — nearly $5 million more than he collected during the third quarter, and triple what he pulled in during the second quarter. That sum brought his cycle-to-date total to $26.1 million raised.
Similarly, Gingrich pulled in $9.8 million during the final three months of 2011. That was more than twelve times what he raised during the third quarter, when his candidacy seemed all but done.
Santorum also saw an increase in fundraising during the fourth quarter. His $920,428 haul, though comparatively modest, was the highest quarterly number he’s posted so far.
Yet even with fourth-quarter boosts, the fundraising of the entire GOP field still lags compared to how much candidates were raising at this point during other recent presidential cycles.
In 2008, a wide-open race for both parties yielded a major fundraising boom for candidates on both sides of the aisle.
At the end of 2007, the seven Republican candidates considered to be
major contenders for their party’s nomination had raised a combined
$254 million, according to research by the Center for Responsive
Politics. And the chief Democratic candidates — buoyed by the close
race between then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — raised even
more: $318 million.
Meanwhile, at the end of 2003, the five top Democratic candidates had raised a
combined $110.3 million for their presidential bids, according to the Center’s research.
Compare these figures to the $150.7 million the top eight candidates
seeking the Republican nomination this cycle had raised through the same
period: The current crop of Republicans is more than $100 million off the pace of the 2007 group, and more closely resemble the Democrats of 2003 who were vying for the chance to challenge incumbent President George W. Bush.
For Romney, who was among the 2008 candidates running for the
Republican nomination, an important fundraising theme this cycle has been the avoidance of his own wallet.
Romney had raised $90 million by the end of 2007. But more than $35.4
million of that, or about 40 percent, came from his own personal
wealth. Without those loans, Romney had raised a total of $54.7 million
at the close of 2007 — a figure that’s actually slightly below his
current $56.9 million total.
A slow start to the presidential race offers one explanation for the
tepid fundraising in the GOP field: All four of the current candidates missed a full fundraising period by launching
their candidacies during the second quarter of 2011.
Another explanation: the emergence of the candidate-supporting super PAC.
Super PACs, a new breed of political animal, arose in the wake of the
U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
decision. They are allowed to accept unlimited contributions from
corporations, unions, trade associations and nonprofits, on the
condition that they don’t donate the money they raise directly to
candidates or coordinate with candidates about the group’s operations. They can spend their funds on ads or otherwise expressly advocating for or against
candidates.
A myriad of super PACs
have sprung up to support and augment the campaigns of every
presidential candidate. Most are led by former political advisers of the candidates. And their weapon of choice is negative
advertising.
Restore Our Future, perhaps the most well-known candidate-specific super
PAC, was created to support Romney’s candidacy. Restore Our Future has
spent more than $17.5 million on independent expenditures designed to
boost his candidacy. More than $16 million of that sum has been spent on
negative advertisements at key points during the race, such as when
Gingrich’s prospects seemed to be rising in Iowa.
Gingrich, for his part, is being supported by the super PAC Winning Our Future. This
group has spent $8.8 million, with much of it going to negative
advertising against Romney.
Supporters of Paul and Santorum have likewise created super PACs of
their own, and they fulfill a similar role: To act as an independent arm
of the presidential candidates’ campaigns — their phantom limb.
Such candidate-aligned super PACs raised a total of $47.8 million during 2011, according to the Center’s research.
Adding in these extra pots of money, the total amount raised in 2011
by Republican candidates and their super PAC allies jumps to $308.6
million, far more than the Republican candidates had raised by this
point four years ago.
Since the start of the new year, it’s become apparent that a single wealthy investor, such as casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson or Wyoming businessman Foster Friess, can provide rapid
infusions of cash — injections that were not reflected in the year-end
numbers reported to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday.
Here is a graph showing how much all the presidential candidates raised during 2011, along with what was raised by the super PACs designed to boost their electoral prospects:
Notably, even Romney hasn’t come close to President
Barack Obama in terms of fundraising — not even with super PAC money added in. Obama has collected more than $125
million for his own campaign, even as a super PAC created by two of his
former top aides, Priorities USA Action, has collected just $4.4 million.
Center for Responsive Politics senior fellow Bob Biersack and senior researcher Douglas Weber contributed to this report.
Recent Comments