Mitt Romney Fundraising Stagnates, Decreasing His Financial Advantage

[SunsetDreams]

WASHINGTON -- As he remains stuck in a four-way race for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's financial advantage is beginning to erode. His campaign raised only $6.4 million in the month of January, one of his worst fundraising months of his entire 2012 campaign. By comparison, in January 2008, during Romney's first unsuccessful presidential bid, he raised $9.6 million.

Romney may have a bigger problem on his hands than disappointing fundraising totals. His campaign burned through $18.7 million in January, only to win primaries in New Hampshire and Florida. Romney's losing streak continued into February, as he weathered three losses to the surging Rick Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

Romney's fundraising and burn rate should both be causes for concern for his campaign. While small donors accounted for 18 percent of his January total, the highest percentage during his entire campaign so far, he is still relying heavily on donors who are maxing out their contributions. Fifty percent of his January contributions came from donors giving $2,500 or more.

With a long road ahead in the Republican primary race and thousands of donors already maxing out, Romney will need to expand his fundraising base -- otherwise he will be forced to dip into his personal fortune, as he did in 2008. The fact that Romney has faced the same problem during both his presidential campaigns suggests that his record has made him unpopular with grassroots conservative donors.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/20/mitt-romney-fundraising-fec-reports_n_1289758.html

[cottage10]

1. Oh yes, pretty please! I hope Mitt spends every last penny he has on this race

And then he'll finally have to experience what it is like for 99% of the population--endless worry about holding a job, health care costs, and watching your food bill go up, etc. He reminds me of Meg Whitman--she spent $150 million of her own money (and didn't get much in donations either) only to lose the CA governor's race. I think Romney (like Whitman) thought that his wealth made him a shoe-in for the office.