Mitt nearly doubled Sarah’s take since January. Of possible concern for Palinites, most of that money came from the sudden spurt following her resignation. Sudden spurts tend to end just as suddenly as they started. I will be very interested in seeing how her numbers hold up over time.
I tried to hunt down HuckPACs numbers, but I cannot find any record of them filing any donation reports to the FEC this year.
EDIT: According to Tommy Boy, the numbers reported for Sarah’s PAC ended June 30. She announced her resignation on July 3. Obviously the number reported can have little to do with her announcement. I took the reports of increased donations since the announcement, and the story of her latest filing, and mistakenly combine the two. Thank-you, Tommy, for pointing that out.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Good thing they’re on the same team. Either one of them supporting Rubio?
July 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Mitt and Sarah are friends with Crist, I doubt they will campaign against him.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:56 am
“Of possible concern for Palinites, most of that money came from the sudden spurt following her resignation. Sudden spurts tend to end just as suddenly as they started.”
That’s not true Mark. Issue a correction. The $733,000 is from when she started her PAC in late January to June 31st.
Her resignation was on July 3rd. You’ll see this:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/palins-pac-raises-700000.html?hpid=news-col-blog
“Update, 4:10 p.m.: Palin has collected at least $200,000 more for Sarah PAC since the reporting period closed at the end of last month, according to a source familiar with the numbers. Palin’s resignation — announced on July 3 — triggered a flood of donations to the PAC, the source added.”
Mark, update your post by removing the line “most of that money came from the sudden spurt following her resignation” because it is factually unsupported.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Huck has to file. I’m sure he did ok. His fundraising seems to be steady, and not jumping from one extreme to another.
Mitt’s has always been up in the rare air. I guess when you name your pac after something other than yourself, you get more $$.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
It appears that the chattering class thinks that the comparison between Romney’s numbers and Palin’s numbers is faulty:
http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1322428.html
“Former Massachusetts GOP Gov. Mitt Romney, the closest comparison to Palin, raised $1.3 million for his political action committee over the same period. However, it’s not entirely an apples and orange comparison, Gordon said. Romney has an existing national network of donors and the ability to tap his own personal fortune, as he did during his 2008 bid for the Republican presidential nomination.”
July 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
“I tried to hunt down HuckPACs numbers, but I cannot find any record of them filing any donation reports to the FEC this year.” Haha, how about Pawlenty PAC.
“Mark, update your post by removing the line “most of that money came from the sudden spurt following her resignation” because it is factually unsupported.” Tommy Boy, in fairness to MarK, it was an honest mistake. If the other camps were truly experts in Palintology, there would be a few more Palinites around. Oh well.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
2 – that’s cronyism, kind of. If Rubio is the true conservative, I can’t respect that.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I’m not the only one comparing Palin to Cheney-the-next generation I guess. Just saw another analysis.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
“Tommy Boy, in fairness to MarK, it was an honest mistake.”
Ohio, I know. That’s why I asked Mark to correct his post
.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
%5-Tommy Boy, I’m not quite sure what point the author was trying to make about it being an apples and oranges comparison, except that maybe he meant that not only did Romney double Palin’s take, but he also has the additional advantage of having lots of his own money–which is kind of a silly thing to mention when talking about how much their PACs raised.
Also, does anyone have the numbers on how much Romney’s PAC actually donated to candidates?
And why no knews on HuckPAC? I doubt he would miss the filing deadline. Is he allowed to apply for a filing extension?
July 14th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Strong America,
Let’s not be obtuse bro. It’s pretty clear what Gordon was arguing. Did you miss this line: ” Romney has an existing national network of donors.”
C’mon man, let’s not be obtuse.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Although I am supporting Mitt, it is posts like this one that makes me think I should rethink being associated with his supporters.
Comparing Mitt’s haul to Palin’s haul using straight numbers is deceitful.
Have you all got that? It’s deceitful… I used that word intentionally.
Mitt is free to roam the country at will and raise all the money he wants from a network he has been cultivating nearly five-years.
Palin has a full-time job as Governor, and flying to the Lower 48 takes hours in flight time to get anywhere. That Palin raised over 50% of Mitt’s haul with the impediments she faces is astounding.
Mitt already has a credibility problem with people that didn’t support him the last time. And it is these folks that we have to win over to get him the nomination this time.
Deceitful posts like this one impede this effort, and my fellow Romney supporters appear incapable of understanding this.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Romney was doing nothing during those six months while Gov.Palin was busy running a state. She also did just one event and sent two emails, she also pulled in more donors than the same hundred who give over n over again to Romney. Plus, Sarah has only online donations so far while Romney has done other kinds of fundraising.
But facts never came in the way of Romneybots adoration.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
12 – She also just finished a national campaign and has been in the spotlight nonstop ever since. I don’t see how MarK was being “deceitful” by providing a pro-Romney perspective as opposed to pro-Palin. He’s not obligated to spin for her, just as most of her supporters don’t take the time to look at every scenario in the best possible light for Romney.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Michael Doerr: I honestly do not think MarK is at all deceitful (that is rather harsh,) but yes certain pieces of the puzzle are certainly left out.
Wisetrog: It is harsh to say that Mr. Romney was doing nothing, but yes, it is interesting that neither Mr. Romney or Mr. Huckabee are currently sitting in the governor’s Chair.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Michael,
Well, after next week, she is about to be free to roam as much as she likes in the lower-48.
And I really think you are stretching it to call it deceitful. Sarah has 700,000 dolllars to spend. Mitt has twice that amount. That means Mitt can do twice as much as Sarah can. It would not matter if Mitt was the newbie fundraiser and Sarah was the old hand. One of them has twice as much as the other.
So why is that deceitful?
July 14th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Doerr,
Whoa.
I don’t see how Mark was being deceitful.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Well MarK, congrats on having twice as much money, I wish you well in spending it wisely.
Time will time as too how much roaming around Mr. Palin will do in the lower 48, but I hope she come to OHIO. It would be nice to see her and just as importantly, I know at least one candidate that could use her help.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
18 – I hope if she goes to Ohio you get a chance to see her in person. You’ve certainly been a tireless advocate for the cause of “Palinism.”
July 14th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Oh, I WISHED ‘I’ could spend it wisely.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Yes, Sarah. You need to go to OHIO. Joe has earned it.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Thanks guys, hopefully, you can see Mr. Romney in person some day if you already have not.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
It is deceitful because this post is 100% pure spin, and you are insulting everyone’s intelligence here to think they are stupid enough to not see through it.
It is all so transparent; Palin raises and impressive amount so let’s post an response hit piece that compares apples to oranges. I mean seriously, doesn’t this post reminder anyone of the ramblings of “Baghdad Bob”?
Please, please, please refrain from this line of attack this time around.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
So Michael, it seems that under your reasoning that if Huck raises an equivalent amount to Palin in the first quarter, that it would be disappointing for him in the sense that he, like Romney, was free to focus exclusively on fundraising. Am I reading your point correctly?
July 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
23 – Even the Palin supporters on here think you’re overdoing it with the criticism of this post.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I was scheduled to see him in Washington state in 2006, but the floods hit in Massachusetts, and he had to cancel. Bummer.
This was before he was a top candidate for Prez, so the tickets were only $50 a plate. I doubt I could see him that cheaply now.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I will give credit to Romney. This is one reason I consider him a formidable opponent and that he, Huckabee or Palin will be the GOP nominee in 2012.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Romney’s name not in headlines, and he still raisies the cash.
Huh. Wonder what that’s about?
July 14th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
With Mr. Doerr, I think I now know MarK well enough to say that he is a thoughful and honest man. You certainly do not have to agree with everything he says, but this is a serious charge. This is not right to accuse somebody of doing wrong when the facts do not show it. People who disagree with MarK are free to ask Kavon to post something of their own. Kavon is a sharp fellow and I for one am glad that people like MarK are around here.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
27 – Thanks for a fair summation. I think this was also a strong showing for Palin regardless of Romney’s amount.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Sorry, I meant to say ‘with respect, Mr. Doerr.’
July 14th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Doerr, I’m neutral on the candidates, but if you think marK as being deceiving or shamelessly spinning, you haven’t been here when the various camps are really going after each other. :;
Also, you should be more consistant in your complaining. A Palin supporter made a front page post about the Sarah PAC haul a long time ago but conveniently left out mentioning Romney’s PAC. Nobody bothered to post about Romney’s haul until mark finally did it.
Where’s the rage?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I have not seen Huckpac numbers yet. Many of his supporters are curious how much was raised. I will point out that I don’t think it will be near the amount that Romney or Palin brought in. Why? Because a lot of Huckabee supporters are first time actively involved grassroots people. They never gave money to a candidate before, and probably still don’t. So if they give Huckpac money, it is probably in very small amounts. Plus, Huckabee does not have the big money backed donors that Romney has. Huckabee does not run in the same political circles as Romney does. I myself just gave a good amount to Huckpac in support of Huckabee endorsing Rubio.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Is there such a thing as victimism? If so, that would seem to be the nature of the talk-radio wing of the party, led by the victim-in-chief herself, Sarah Palin. Until I stop hearing the words “liberal elites”, “establishment”, and “ordinary Americans” (which is code word for oppressed white victims), I cannot support her and the politics of victimization.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
#28, I think the writer of the original piece was referring to was that Romney probably used his own money. I say hooray for both Romney and Palin…both did a great job. It is interesting to read the differences in how the money was donated and in the specifics as to how it will be doled out. I like that Palin has donated money to McCain and to Murkowski…it shows a level of loyalty.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Both the Palin and Romney camps should be happy with these numbers. Romney partisans can point out that he did in fact raise more money than Palin, but the Palinites can take comfort in the confirmation that she can raise money at a fairly decent clip. The question remains as to if she can do it over the long haul, but over $700,000.00 is a good start.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Texasconserv, that may be so, but HuckPAC is donating to support a lot of candidates.
I was disappointed to see that Palin only donated $10,000 (to John McCain and Lisa Murkowski no less) while burning through $270,000+ of the donation money.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
asparagus, I’m not even sure what you’re talking about?!?! Palin is in the talk-radio wing of the Republican Party? How do you figure? Are you in the, I get my news from THE COUNTDOWN wing of whatever party you are in? AND how is “ordinary americans” code for oppressed white victims? I’m just not sure what you mean?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Where is the report about Crist and Rubio’s fundraising?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
37, isn’t there a limit to how much one PAC can donate to another PAC or to a specific politician? I think there is and I think it’s 5000 clams.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I’m just getting tired of hearing about how the “liberal elites” control everything. If you listen to the Palin-fans and to Sarah herself, everyone is an enemy. Every critical story is a “hit piece”. Just google “Sarah Palin” and “unfair” and see how many hits you get. I’m part of the world is unfair wing of the party and I’d like some people to deal with it, act like winners, and not like whiners.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I’ve done a little research. The absolute drop dead deadline is July 31, 2009. All PAC must file their semi-annual report by then, unless they are doing monthly reports.
So far, Huckabee, and Gingrich have not filed. Pawlenty hasn’t set up a leadership PAC yet. I haven’t checked on any of the other 2012 hopefuls.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
“asparagus, I’m not even sure what you’re talking about?!?! Palin is in the talk-radio wing of the Republican Party? ” Yeah, I have never heard of the Sarah Palin show.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
That’s fair, but some of us do believe that these liberal elites, media elites, are using their right to free speech as a way to help stilt elections to fit what they want this country to be. I will bet Sarah Palin has compalined less about her unfair coverage than you actually think and that what you are actually tired of is the media’s response to those few complaints. I don’t know for sure but I bet she has complained less than a dozen times about unfair treatment but in the world of the 24 hour news cycle you keep hearing about the same complaints.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
#44:
Jersey, how’s the gubernatorial campaign looking for you all up there? The poll numbers still look pretty good for Cristie, do we actually have a chance at winning the NJ Governorship this year?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
The Sarah Palin show? Ouch! Would be worse than Fred Thompson. I love Fred but speaking off the cuff is not his strong suit. Too many “umms”.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
#40–You missed the point……She only donated to TWO people and two people that aren’t widely known as conservatives and who aren’t in a death match with Dems…..In other words, the $770,000+ SarahPAC has been worthless to the conservative cause as far as donating to the campaigns of conseratives is concerned….at least up to this point, which surprised me……but maybe she is just stocking up for the future.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Kristofer, you made a statement that Sarah and Mitt were friends with Crist. May I ask you where you got the idea that Mitt and Crist are friends. Crist cost him Florida and the nomination, and thus the Presidency, so I’d like to see some proof. Thanks!
July 14th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
47 not fair…Mitt’s PAC took a while to start doling out the funds too. Let’s give her some time.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Kristofer thinks everyone is friends with everyone else.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
#48:
Crist is a snake. He backstabbed both Romney and Rudy during the 08 primary. We in the Rudy camp were told in October of 07 that he was on the verge of endorsing our man. He didn’t. We were then told right before the primary that he would stay neutral. He didn’t.
Charlie Crist is out for Charlie Crist, no one else. If the 2012 hopefuls are smart, they will stay far away from him.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
47 – Yeah, I’d give her more time to see how she spends it, there aren’t many races going on yet.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
45 – I think we do have a shot at taking back Trenton. We haven’t had a capable Governor since Whitman. Christie isn’t my first choice but neither was Lonegan but that doesn’t matter much since Corzine has, actually, been our greatest ally.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
#53:
Good to hear. Winning the Governorship in NJ will prove to the country that Republicans can still actually compete and win in the Northeast.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Yeah Crist is a snake. That was major late blow for Giuliani. Not saying he would’ve taken the state anyway but ti certainly did not help.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Oh, here is some more information.
Mitt’s numbers are only from 1/1 – 5/31. Sarah’s numbers are from 1/1 – 6/30. Mitt has not filed his July/Mid-year report yet.
Here are Mitt’s numbers by month:
Jan: $136,000
Feb: $333,000
Mar: $239,000
Apr: $249,000
May: $404,000
We will have to wait until the end of July to get Huck’s numbers and the true Romney numbers so we can truly compare apples to apples.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
MarK,
Palin formed her PAC on January 27 but you are correct that the filing technically includes all of January.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/01/sarah-palin-pac.html
July 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
marK, I believe SARAHPAC wasn’t official until the end of January. I also believe Doerr is correct…which is funny since you used to complain when Kristopher would do the very same thing.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
That is an impressive jump for Romney in May…I guess his refund came early this year.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
#51 Jonathan – That’s my opinion of Crist also, and I hope the heck Mitt is not a close friend of his, because like you say, he’s a snake. Sarah gave to McCain, and McCain endorsed Crist.
And for any of you that think MItt will endorse Crist…there is no way he will do that in the primary.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
#60:
McCain probably felt he owed it to Crist to endorse him, as payback for Crist’s help during the primary.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
So, Kristofer, you have nothing to show your statement of Mitt being friends with Crist?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
An Armey for Rubio
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjFjMWRhNTU1MmJmZTI4ZDhiOTNkMTQwZDExOTg4MWI=
July 14th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Hmm, let’s see, who in talk radio are in the can for Palin? Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh. Then on FOX News there is Beck, Hannity, and Greta.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Two House Republicans’ Activity May Indicate Ambitions for 2012
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003164883&referrer=js
July 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Romney won’t get the nominee in 2012. He is not conservative. Romney is hurting the Republican Party. He is going to lose the primary election in 2012. Sarah Palin has the most favorable high rating at 74% than Romney. Romney’s favorable rating is low at 55%. It is not good for Romney. The conservatives of the Republican Party don’t want Romney because he lied about himself been a conservative. He is like a liberal Democrat. The mainstream news media want Romney to run because they know he can’t beat Obama. That why I don’t believe in the liberal news media polls. It might be Palin or Pawlenty might be get the nominee in 2012. Not Romney!
July 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
66 – you’ve really outdone yourself here.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
“He is like a liberal Democrat” With respect anonymous, I am no Romneyite, but he is far from a flaming Liberal..
July 14th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Tommy.#57:“Palin formed her PAC on January 27 but you are correct that the filing technically includes all of January.”
You are correct. So you could look at these as two five-month reports.
Anyway, that works out to $146,000 per month for Palin, and $272,000 a month for Romney. I am hearing talk of SarahPAC taking in +$200,000 since her announcement, so that is good news for you guys. There is still the worry, however, that that might not be sustainable. Time will tell.
Oh, and in case some Romneyite gives you a hard time about Sarah only donating $10,000, point out that Romney donated a whopping $34,000 in the same time period. Considering he had more than nearly $700,000 more than Sarah, nobody in my camp should be throwing any stones. I suspect the truth is both parties are saving money for the 2010 bi-elections.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
68 – Thanks Joe.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I am not a Palin fan for many reasons, but one is because the former beauty queen is also a drama queen to the nth degree. It embarasses me to be part of a party where she is such a talking point. She really needs to focus on her kids – they seem to really miss having her around.
The media would like nothing better than to paint Palin as the face of our party, along with Rush Limbaugh. There is a reason for this, just as there was a reason that the media went on a huge campaign for McCain when it looked like he was out of the Primaries. The media wants to control the image of the republican party, and Palin has been perfect.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
64 don’t forget Mike Gallagher.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Fascinating. Bordering on psychotic.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Greg, you right in a way. The liberal media outlets are doing all they can to disparage Palin (and she makes it very easy for them) and tie her to the leadership of the republican party. I don’t now that this is the thread for it, but in Southern California there is amovement of republican becoming independents because they don’t like the direction of the republican party. I saw an article where over 2,000 republicans in Orange County had switched to independents since the beginning of the year. Most of them think the party is too antiquated.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
John Kerry just responded to Palin in Huffpo of all places:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/what-gov-palin-forgot_b_231892.html
July 14th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Illinoisguy/tommy boy,
My understanding is that the two of them hit it off when they vacationed together at the McCain Sedona re-treat. Romney and Crist joined McCain and Jindal on a hike. Jindal apparently passed around pictures to his friends and political allies, but they have no made their way to the public eye.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Was Seamus there?
July 14th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Huckabee could not make it. Lindsey Graham was there.
Don’t always believe what you read in the MSM…
July 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I just went on a search for PAC filings tied to the more likely of the 2012 hopefuls.
I could not find an active PAC for Newt, Pawlenty, Jeb Bush, Jindal, or Crist. I did find a Thune PAC (Heartland Values) with donations of $60,000 to date. I found SarahPAC, Huck PAC, and the Free and Strong America (Romney) PAC. Only Thune and Palin have filed their mid-year reports as of today.
By the end of this month, we will have a better picture of how everyone stands in the fund raising department. I am especially curious about HuckPAC.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
76, He passed around pictures of what?
July 14th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Kristofer, if it didn’t make it to the public eye, then how do you know about it?
I want to know where you get this, ok?
Secondly, Mitt Romney would not refuse to take a hike with a group of people just because it had somebody more liberal involved in it….so that wouldn’t bother me. However, for you to say they ‘hit it off’ and have no where you can point to from which it came is a little puzzling. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I’m pretty darned sure Mitt Romney is not in any way a ‘friend’ of Crist.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Kris.#76,
Was that during the series of retreats McCain held prior to the convention where he was (among other things) trying to heal any remaining wounds from the 2008 Primaries? If so, I wouldn’t put much stock in it. It is what they do AFTER the election that is telling. For example, I’ve heard from several sources (none of them the usual Romneyian suspects), that since the election, McCain and Romney have been seen dining together on a number of occasions, and that McCain occasionally calls up Romney for policy advice.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Oh…my….gosh!
McCainblogette wrote about it….as did Bobby Jindal.
Did you know that Romney and McCain talk regularly (#82)? Did you know their friendship went back to the Romney MA campaign, where McCain campaigned for him?
July 14th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
marK,
There was some planning sessions, one BBQ for the media, but onn BIG meeting that included GOP and business leaders.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Since no one believes me and clearly has more contacts and information.
Take a look at this picture…..everyone seems happy.
http://s.wsj.net/media/dd_el_20080625234940.jpg
July 14th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I’m sure its a marriage of convenience. Remember the contempt in his voice when he cracked Romney was the candidate of “change”. I’ll never forget how small McCain looked in that moment.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Kris,
Just because Mitt didn’t fly off into a snit whenever he and Crist were together at a shindig organized by John McCain, there is no reason to assume that they became bosom buds. Romney has class, remember? Not like a certain other…
*ahem*
Let it go, marK. Just let it go
July 14th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Interesting thread. Much ado about not much. Mitt can outfundraise anyone in the party and do it standing on his head. Everybody already knows this. But if anybody still needs proof of the obvious, wait until he does it on his own behalf during the last half of 2011. At this stage of the process, it’s just windowdressing.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
This has been a learning experience for me. I have found the FEC PAC reporting site and have done some basic research. In my #69 post, I knocked F&SA PAC for “only” contributing $34,000 in six months time with nearly $1.4M donations coming in. Well, it turns out I was wrong. I was going by Line #23 “Contributions to Federal Candidates/Committees and Other Political Committees”. It listed $34,000 to date for F&SA PAC. I didn’t realize until I began going through Schedule B — Itemized Disbursements — that you only report Federal candidates on line #23. State and Local candidates go elsewhere. It so happens that Romney contributed an additional $21,000 to State and Local candidates — Christie is just one example.
So it turns out that Romney donated almost $55,000 to GOP candidates and other election committees around the country in the first five months of 2009.
Here is the reference to Mitt’s latest report if you are interested. It makes a fascinating read.
I suspect in the days to come, I will be gleaning more information from this and other PAC filings.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Speaking of funds raised, did you see that Reid raised $3.25m in the 2nd qtr, bringing his cash in hand total up to $7.3m – not bad going for a guy with a busy day job. He’s doing everything he can to dissuade credible opposition, and it seems he’s succeeding.
To relate this to the present post:
So, if Palin’s number is lower than Mitt’s because she was too busy being Governor, how come the busy Senate Majority LEader can raise $5.5m over the same 6 month period? Being in office, and being afraid of losing, does have some advantages on the fundraising front.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Crist raised over 4 million, unfortunately.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Jay,
Pretty simple explanation: there is a distinction between a PAC and a campaign for re-election, so you cannot compare the two. After all, Reid then destroyed both Mitt and Sarah but such a comparison is useless.
It’s pretty clear now that Rubio is facing quite the mountain financially. But hopefully his ideas will defeat the money.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Exactly, Tommy Boy.
JayPe,
The PACs that we are talking about here are “Leadership” PACs. Essentially they are slush funds the owners can use for just about any purpose under the sun. They are supposedly used to bestow money upon any candidate or cause the owner sees fit. They are commonly used to reimburse travel expenses for the owner as he/she jets around the country working to get elected. These are different from the election and re-election campaigns where the money must be spent on getting the specific candidate elected.
So people tend to donate less money to the former and more to the later.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
“there is a distinction between a PAC and a campaign for re-election”
What are the differences? Are there differences in limits perhaps?
Can money raised for a PAC be transferred directly to an electoral campaign? I’m not sure.
A key difference is that Reid is definitely facing re-election in 2010, and Mitt/Sarah might be running for election in 2012. The time & pressure factor is therefore greater. My point above was simply that arguing that being in office is a hindrance is not necessarily the case (although the time able to be spent does matter)
July 14th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Jay,
There’s also a distinction between the titles held by the parties at issue. It’s pretty clear that governors have less time to devote to the political front than a Senator. Reid also is in DC much of the time while Palin is in a remote part of the country.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Jay,
Suppose I am a roofer. You need your roof fixed. Do you:
a)contribute to a fund I control where I can choose to fix your roof, or fix someone else’s roof whom I am trying to impress, or donate to the Roofing Institute to study Roofing techniques, or spend money on lobbying for better laws for roofers, or pay my dead-beat nephew to set around all day surfing the web and call his actions “consulting”, or pay for my travel expenses so I can fly around the country advancing the role of roofers in society?
-or-
(b)advance me money so I can fix your roof?
Which would you be most likely to put money into, (a) or (b)? If you are a strong believer in the advancement of roofers, you are likely to invest in (a), but (b) will get your roof fixed.
Does that help?
July 14th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
“It’s pretty clear that governors have less time to devote to the political front than a Senator”
Actually, given the budget problems most states are having, this is a really important point. The ramification is that governor incumbents have much less time to fundraise than challengers. Surely that can be taken advantage of?
e.g. Paterson in NY has so many problems, surely he doesn’t have time to fundraise? Althoguh that probably beneefits Cuomo (who’s looking more and more like a candidate) than the GOP.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Sorry Mark (#96) you’re sort of repeating #93. So I should acknowledge that I get it, and that it certainly makes a difference.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Ruffini’s article on Crist vs Rubio was a good one I thought, showing that money isn’t everything. However, he’s going to need to raise enough money to get his message out, and that may be difficult.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Here’s a great quote by Rubio: “I have to hope and believe that ideas still matter in American politics,” Rubio said. “If we live in a country where all you’ve got to do is raise a lot of money and just run enough commercials to convince people that you’re not who they think you are, then we have much bigger problems than me not winning an election.”
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/community/story/latest-gop-straw-poll-vision-trumps-dollars/
July 14th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Rubio must really not like Crist at all. He’s effectively calling him a liar with his quote.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I’m sorry Jay, I am just trying to understand your question so I can best answer it.
If Sarah Palin decided to run for President, or Senator, or Congressman, or Dogcatcher, I believe OFFICIALLY her PAC could only donate $5000 to her campaign. However, anything she did on SarahPAC business is legal, so if she were to make a plug in the middle of her stump speech for people to donate to SarahPAC, the PAC could defray the cost of the speech, the travel, the facility rental, etc thereby saving campaign funds. If push came to shove, the PAC could probably hire the campaign to do some “consulting work” for them. But I don’t think she would do that.
People donate to SarahPAC to increase Palin’s influence. SarahPAC funds are used for “I’ll scratch your back, and you’ll scratch mine” activities. Campaign contributions are specifically donated to get her elected and are not supposed to be used for those sorts of Political IOUs.
She would be a fool to take much money from the PAC and use it for her election unless she was desperate for the cash. Instead, she should use the money for what it is intended.
This is my understanding of the legal technicalities involved. I am no lawyer, but if someone is who knows this part of the law, perhaps they can clear up any misunderstanding we might have.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
#101,
It’s politics. Don’t take it too seriously.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I realized the differences when I posted the thing on Crist. It was only in response to the Reid posting.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Gotta love Kris and his unsubstantiated gossip.
That said Mitt and Sarah should support Crist. I bet both, especially Mitt being the safest politician in the country, will wait and make sure he’s going to win (if at all).
July 14th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
66 anon. Got anything else? You post the same post every day!
July 14th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
“That said Mitt and Sarah should support Crist. I bet both, especially Mitt being the safest politician in the country, will wait and make sure he’s going to win (if at all).”
Heath, you are joking right?
July 14th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
mark, thanks for the fascinating and informative information on PAC reporting. I had no idea it was so complicated.
appreciate the efforts
looks like Sarah and Romney continue to attract the lions share of attention $$ wise. Look forward to Hucks numbers as well.
The more $ we have to share come 2010 the better off we will be as a party.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Why does anyone think Mitt like Crist? Crist cost Mitt the nomination when he broke his pledge at the last minute and endorsed McCain.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Look at the FEC disclosure. Mitt is a monthly reporter and he has until 7/20 to formally disclose. Through May 31, he had raised 1.6 million — I am sure in the month of June — which will most likely be filed on 7/20 — he will raise at least another 300,000 or more, so he will approximately pull in 2.0 million, maybe 2.1 million — that’s a good haul. It doesnt’ matter how it comes in — or how long he has been set up. It is what it is — now goodness knows I am not an ardent Romney supporter, but give the guy his due — he pulled in a lot of dough.
Don’t yet know what Huck Pac pulled in — he did tweet that his daughter Sarah advised him on June 30th that they had met their fundraising goal — but I don’t know what that goal is.
What we do know is that, in April 2008, both Huck and Romney started their respective pacs. I would imagine it was slow going for quite some time, especially for Huck without the big donors, since they were in the thrust of a presidential as well as congressional election. Nevertheless, for about a 8-1/2 month period, Huck Pac raised $823,596 and Free and Strong America raised $2.3 million. I would expect Huck Pac to do even better for 2009 because his membership has increased, and he is atarting to hold more fundraisers for his PAC. He held one Sunday, but that goes into the second half of the year. Last month in June he held one in NC.
Sarah’s pac raised purportedly $733,000 (or thereabouts), but she has not yet filed any FEC disclosure (at least not as of yesterday). Since both she and Huck Pac elected to file semiannually, they have until 7/31 to report.
Doesnt’ make sense to compare Romney to Sarah or Huck — he is in a league of his own. And it makes even less sense to talk about Palin’s so-called first-half deficiencies which will be fired up the second half. Let the second half speak for itself.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
“#55 Romney won’t get the nominee in 2012. He is not conservative. Romney is hurting the Republican Party. He is going to lose the primary election in 2012. Sarah Palin has the most favorable high rating at 74% than Romney. Romney’s favorable rating is low at 55%. It is not good for Romney. The conservatives of the Republican Party don’t want Romney because he lied about himself been a conservative. He is like a liberal Democrat. The mainstream news media want Romney to run because they know he can’t beat Obama. That why I don’t believe in the liberal news media polls. It might be Palin or Pawlenty might be get the nominee in 2012. Not Romney”
I don’t know — I guess I am in a supportive Romney mood, but that statement above is totally nonsense. You may not like Romney; he might not be your candidate; you might believe he will not draw enthusiasm — all debatable statements. But you certainly cannot say he is “hurting” the republican party. What is hurting the party — and if they don’t get off of it, then they deserve what they get — is trying to thrust an extremely flightly, foolish, egomaniacal woman as our leader. Trust me, the liberals are not afraid of her — they are laughing at her — and they are laughing at us, with just cause. If we don’t shut this woman down quicky, you will most definitely have Obama for eight years.
At any rate, my guy is Huckabee — but, while I champion my candidate, I just can’t let a “Romney is hurting the party” statement go by. Sorry!
July 15th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Voter,
“Sarah’s pac raised purportedly $733,000 (or thereabouts), but she has not yet filed any FEC disclosure (at least not as of yesterday).”
Purportedly? Has not yet filed any FEC disclosure, at least not as of yesterday?
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00458588/423110/#SUMMARY
July 15th, 2009 at 3:55 am
“I didn’t realize until I began going through Schedule B — Itemized Disbursements — that you only report Federal candidates on line #23. State and Local candidates go elsewhere. It so happens that Romney contributed an additional $21,000 to State and Local candidates — Christie is just one example.” BTW, while I do not have the statistics, one of the reasons I am more convinced than other than Mr. Huckabee is running for President is because he has given money to local candidates (in my state, as well as others) while it is my understanding that Mr. F. Thompson only gives to Federal candidates through FredPAC. When one build bridges at the state level, one might be looking for delegates in 2012. On a side note, in a neighboring state, a few of the PACs are active in the Youth wing of the Party, that might also be a clue if indeed that is the case.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:04 am
If Mitt Romney does get the nominee in 2012, I probably leave the Republican Party. Romney is such a ‘loser’. I don’t think he can beat Obama. We need to find some one like Sarah Palin or Tim Pawlenty.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:16 am
#114 – If you were interested in beating Obama, you wouldn’t leave the party.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Stop taking the troll anon seriously IG!
Texas what are you questioning??
July 15th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Well, at least that troll is most likely an American citizen.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:56 am
voter are you serious? Have you followed her career? The best thing for Sarah Palin right now is to have the Democrats laughing at her because she has shown that she should not be underestimated. The only way Obama can beat Sarah Palin is if the media completely makes up total lies about her and if ACORN continues to rig elections and since Obama is giving them the ammunition to do so then we may actually lose but not because of Sarah Palin.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Tommy,
Be easy on Voter. Before yesterday, I had no idea how complex the PAC reporting is. For example, you have to know the name of the PAC before you can track it down on the FEC Website. They don’t list them by sponsors. If I didn’t know that Romney’s PAC was the “Free and Strong America” PAC, I would have been helpless in trying to locate his filing reports.
I first thought Sarah hadn’t reported anything yet, as well. That is because I originally went to a site that provided all that information for you, and they didn’t have SarahPAC listed. It was only after I dug considerably deeper that I found it.
So cut him some slack, okay?
July 15th, 2009 at 9:17 am
OHIO,
Yes, Huckabee is making all the moves like he is running. I submit that he doesn’t really know if he is or not. He just knows what has to be done to keep his options open. He knows that if someone wants a decent chance at winning the nomination, they need to collect some Political IOU’s by campaigning for fellow Republicans and by spreading around some PAC money.
It doesn’t mean he is running. It means he is keeping his options open.
July 17th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
[...] herself. On the one hand, this isn’t that impressive. Mitt Romney, for instance, has raised twice as much. Kay Bailey Huthcison, Palin’s sometime rival who is now running for governor in Texas, [...]
September 29th, 2009 at 1:22 am
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