Romney excels, McCain lags in fundraising
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney flexed his political fund-raising muscles Monday by announcing that he had raised more than $20 million in the first three months of 2007, the largest amount declared so far by a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
But Romney and all other presidential hopefuls trail Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the "fund-raising primary" as the New York Democrat collected $26 million in contributions to add to an additional $10 million she transferred from a Senate account to her presidential committee, her committee reported.
Clinton's fund-raising prowess can be attributed to a fine-tuned political machine and national fund-raising network honed during her husband's years in the White House and broadened during her first term in the Senate.
On the Democratic side, according to their campaigns, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards raised $14 million; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson raised $6 million; Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd raised $4 million; and Sen. Joe Biden, raised between $1 million and $2 million.
For the Republicans, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani raised $14 million; Sen. John McCain has raised $12.5 million; Sen. Sam Brownback has raised $1.3 million; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised $500,000, according to their campaigns.
The initial fund-raising deadlines are generally considered to be an early indicator of a candidate's viability. But given the fund-raising options available to the candidates - such as raising money for both the primary and general elections - it is difficult to compare these figures until the campaigns file detailed financial reports to the Federal Election Commission. The campaigns have released rough estimates of their fundraising, but the complete reports are not due until April 15.
Romney raises $20.63 million in first quarter
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised more than $20 million for his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, the largest number posted by a Republican so far in the first quarter of 2007, his campaign announced Monday.
Romney raised $20.63 million in primary contributions, and he also loaned his campaign $2.35 million, while transferring an additional $20,000 from his 1994 Senate account. In total, Romney's campaign posted $23 million for the quarter. Unlike some presidential candidates, Romney chose to only raise money for the primary.
Richardson raises $6 million for White House bid
WASHINGTON (CNN) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has raised about $6 million in the first quarter of 2007 after starting his White House bid "from scratch" in late January, a campaign aide tells CNN.
"The governor will have enough to be competitive," said Pahl Shipley, a Richardson spokesman. "We're on goal, on budget, and we're in it for the duration."
Shipley described the Democratic governor and former Clinton Administration official's campaign as "lean and mean," spending about $1 million of the $6 million raised and banking the rest.
Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announced earlier on Sunday that it had raised $26 million in contributions for the first quarter while transferring $10 million from Clinton's Senate account. Former Sen. John Edwards reported raising $14 million, about $1 million of which has been earmarked for the general election.
Richardson launched his presidential committee January 22, the same day as Clinton. Though both raised millions for their successful 2006 re-election bids, federal law prohibits Richardson from using any money raised for his gubernatorial account for a presidential campaign.
The New Mexico Democrat, unlike several other Democratic presidential hopefuls, is raising funds solely for the primaries and not for the general election.
All current presidential candidates must report their fundraising and spending activity to the Federal Election Commission by April 15.
Edwards campaign raises $14 million
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, has raised over $14 million for his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign announced Sunday. Roughly $1 million of this total has been earmarked for the general election.
"We're significantly above our budget for the year. We're completely on track to have all the money that we need to be highly competitive in the campaign," said Jonathan Prince, Edwards' deputy campaign manager. "That's what we care about. We want to make sure we have what we need to compete, and we absolutely do. More than we thought we would."
Almost $3.3 million of the $14 million total was raised from over 37,000 contributions made over the Internet, Prince said.
The Edwards campaign exceeded its $10 million fundraising goal for the first quarter of 2007, according to Jennifer Swanson, the campaign's finance director, and nearly doubled the amount the senator raised at this point four years ago in his failed bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
By the end of March 2003, Edwards had raised $7.4 million, enough to lead the Democratic presidential field at the time. That honor this year will likely go to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, whose campaign announced Sunday afternoon that it had raised $26 million in contributions, a record for a Democratic candidate in the year before the election. Clinton also transferred $10 million from her 2006 Senate re-election campaign for a total first-quarter haul of $36 million.
The Edwards campaign said it did not yet know how much cash-on-hand it had available as of the end of March.
All current presidential campaigns must report their fundraising and spending activity for the first three months of the year to the Federal Election Commission by April 15.
Clinton raises $26 million for presidential bid
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raised $26 million and transferred an additional $10 million from her Senate war chest to post $36 million in the first quarter of the 2008 fundraising cycle, the New York Democrat's presidential campaign announced Sunday.
"We are completely overwhelmed and gratified by the historic support," Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle told reporters in a conference call Sunday afternoon.
Senior campaign aides noted that Clinton, a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, had raised the $26 million in a 10-week period but still publicly claimed their goal for the year remains at $75 million. Political analysts suggest the fundraising figure for Clinton and a handful of other presidential contenders is more likely to be in the $100 million range for the year.
The Clinton aides did not release how much money the New York senator currently has in the bank or how much of the $26 million raised can be used in the Democratic primary and how much of it is earmarked for the general election campaign, should Sen. Clinton win the party's nomination. Those figures will be released on or about April 15. The campaign did say that of the $26 million raised, $4.2 million was contributed through the Internet.
The first quarter of the 2008 fundraising cycle is considered by many to be a reliable benchmark to assess a candidate's viability. The quarter closed on Saturday at midnight.
It is likely that Clinton will lead the Democratic field in fundraising this quarter, as her fine-tuned political machine, honed during her husband's years in the White House, kicked into high gear. Former President Bill Clinton played a high-profile role in the senator's presidential campaign in the first 10 weeks by headlining fundraisers and reaching out to key party activists.
Although Clinton is raising funds for both the primary and the general, which no previous presidential candidate has ever done, her total first quarter haul for the primary is still likely to far outpace what the frontrunners in either party raised at the comparable points in 1999 and 2003. In 1999, then-Gov. George W. Bush lead the GOP field by raising $7.6 million in the first quarter, while then-Vice President Al Gore lead the Democratic field with $8.9 million. In 2003, Sen. John Edwards raised about $7.4 million in contributions in the first quarter, enough to lead the Democratic field. President Bush did not begin raising money for his re-election bid until later in the year.
By early afternoon, the only other Democrat to release a first quarter fundraising estimate was Sen. Joe Biden. An aide to the Delaware Democrat tells CNN that they expect the campaign to post between $3 million and $4 million in the first three months with about $1.9 million of that being transferred from his Senate campaign account. The aide noted that they think Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, can be competitive if they are able to raise $25 million for the primary. Biden is registering in the single digits in the national polls.
In the Republican presidential primary, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told CNN he expected to raise $500,000 in the first quarter and show $300,000 in the bank.
Clinton raises $26 million in first quarter
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, raised $26 million in contributions during the first three months of the year, her presidential campaign announced Sunday in a conference call.
Clinton transferred an additional $10 million from her 2006 Senate re-election campaign for a grand total of $36 million raised for the quarter. It is the highest amount a Democrat has raised in a single quarter in the year before the election, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Of the $26 million in contributions, approximately $4.2 million was donated via the Internet.
Clinton, along with several other 2008 presidential hopefuls, has been raising funds for both the primary and the general election, though her campaign did know how much of the $26 million would be set aside for the general.
The campaign also said it would not know how much cash it had available until later this month, when they submit their official tallies to the FEC.
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