Romney Sees Sharp Decline in Donations From 2 States
July 14, 2007
By RUSS BUETTNER and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
nytimes.com
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign saw substantial declines in fund-raising during the second quarter of this year from Massachusetts and Utah, the two states that fueled his earlier success with donors.
In Massachusetts, where Mr. Romney was governor for four years, donations fell 69 percent, dropping to $728,742 from $2.3 million in the previous reporting period. In Utah, where he was chief executive of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, his collections were off by 58 percent, decreasing to $1.2 million from $2.8 million, according to figures released yesterday.
The drops in those states would seem to suggest that Mr. Romney has tapped out the network of rich Mormons and wealthy financiers that drove him to lead other Republican candidates in the first reporting cycle, which ended in March. Contributions from employees of his former companies, Bain Consulting and Bain Capital, fell to $35,450 from more than $140,000.
Election laws now cap individual contributions at $2,300 each for the primary and the general election, making a wide base of contributors vital to a candidate’s success.
Mr. Romney saw his contributions drop by a third in the second quarter, to $14 million from $20.5 million.
Mr. Romney’s campaign reported that it spent about $20 million, 98 percent of its money, in the second quarter, almost exactly as much as it collected. That spending level was roughly $9 million more than the campaign of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. To keep the campaign in the black, Mr. Romney, a multimillionaire former private equity executive, lent his campaign an additional $6.5 million this period, for a total so far of $8.9 million lent to his campaign.
Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said it spent the money on television commercials and elevating Mr. Romney from almost an unknown candidate to a serious contender in polls of the early primary states.
“When you are not well known like us, it doesn’t do any good sitting in the bank,” Mr. Madden said.
Mr. Romney’s campaign had $12.1 million cash on hand as of July 1. Mr. Giuliani’s reported having $18.3 million available.
Mr. Romney’s difficulties contrast sharply with the situation of Mr. Giuliani, whose contributions rose slightly to $17.6 million. New York State continues to form the core of Mr. Giuliani’s financial support. His campaign received $4 million this quarter from his home state, for a total of $7.9 million so far.
Contributions from other states lagged far behind, with $1.7 million each from California and Florida, $1.6 million from Texas and $1.5 million from New Jersey. Those four leading states accounted for nearly two-thirds of the money Mr. Giuliani raised this period.
Money that Mr. Giuliani received from Texas, where he is a named partner in the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani, fell sharply, to $1.6 million from $2.3 million. But that drop was more than made up for in other important states where Mr. Giuliani improved in fund-raising, especially Florida, where he brought in nearly double the prior period.
Mr. Giuliani collected $147,750 from employees of Ernst & Young, the accounting firm. Another $68,200 came from executives of New Breed, a North Carolina-based company headed by Louis DeJoy, a Brooklyn native and prominent supporter of President Bush. Mr. Bush appointed Mr. DeJoy’s wife, Aldona Wos, as ambassador to Estonia in 2005. The executives of the investment adviser group Highland Capital Management, who gave $73,500, were also major Giuliani contributors this period.
The two Republicans were the first candidates to file complete reports for the period before the deadline tomorrow.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company |
