Romney Raises $23 Million; Rudy $15 Million
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Republican Mitt Romney reported raising $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year, shaking up the GOP field and rivaling the total reported a day earlier by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Meanwhile, the Republican front-runner in the polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his donations totaled $15 million - including more than $10 million raised during March alone. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, at one point considered the Republican to beat, trailed both with $12.5 million, and his campaign acknowledged it had "hoped to do better" in the first quarter of the year.
The 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.
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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.
In a statement, Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager, said the campaign was thrilled with the total, despite what he called a "late start" to fundraising. The ex-mayor held his first major fundraiser in New York in December. Other top rivals didn't do so until January or later.
Romney said all the money he raised was dedicated to the primary campaign, while Giuliani said most of his was for the primary race. Candidates can raise $2,300 from each individual for both the primary and general election races, but they cannot spend the general election money if they do not win their party's presidential nomination.
Clinton has refused to break down how much of her money is for the primary campaign and how much would be for a prospective general election.
In the Democratic race, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has yet to release his total, touching off speculation of a major announcement.
Among the other Democratic candidates, aides to former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said his $14 million in new contributions included $1 million for the general election.
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