Mitt Romney, whose presidential campaign leads the Republican primary field in fund-raising, spent nearly 60 percent of the $20.7 million he raised in the first quarter, setting a breakneck pace for the start of the 2008 race, the New York Times reports in a story looking at the fund-raising - and spending - data from the various presidential campaigns. It's not a definitive round-up story because not all of the candidates have released their disclosures, but it's a pretty good look at the numbers for two of the so-called "Big Three" candidates on the Republican side - Romney and Rudy Giuliani.
Romney has out-raised and out-spent Giuliani - an odd irony given Romney is trying to sell himself as the conservative alternative to Giuliani, who currently leads the GOP pack in the national polls but is considered more liberal.
Romney's seemingly big-spending ways makes sense, though, when you remember that Romney's business background including being a venture capitalist - someone who invests serious money in a start-up venture with the expectation of reaping a bountiful harvest in the future.
But...
So far, Romney trails in the national polls - tying the woefully underfunded Mike Huckabee at 6 percent in one poll, which is terrible for Romney, great for Huckabee. But Romney is doing better in state-wide polls in key early-primary states, I'm told - though, with so many states moving their primaries to Feb. 5, almost every state is now an "early primary" state. Romney needs to be doing well not just in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but Florida, California, Tennessee and a host of other states too.He isn't, yet. And while his big fundraising success has allowed him to do things such as "spend nearly $2 million on television advertising in selected states, much more than any of his primary rivals, to introduce himself to voters on his own terms before others could characterize him," as the NYT reports, he hasn't raised enough money to spend that freely in as many states as will be having early primaries.
Romney either needs to raise more money faster - which will be difficult to do - or he needs to get more bang for the buck and see his support rise not just in a few states but in the national polls, otherwise he's on his way to becoming the Phil Gramm of this race, only with better hair.
And if Fred Thompson enters the race, I think you can stick a fork in Romney. Conservatives are only grudgingly backing him now as the only alternative to Giuliani and McCain in the race perceived as able to give Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John Edwards a real challenge in the general election.
That - more than his money - is Romney's main asset and primary sales pitch. If Thompson gets in, he loses it.
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