Romney Dumped $35 Million Into Campaign

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney loaned his campaign a total of more than $35 million in 2007, according to the most recent filings of campaign finance reports.

In the past quarter alone, the former Massachusetts governor pumped $18 million of his own wealth to financing his candidacy. That personal contribution helped bolster his fourth quarter fundraising total to $27 million, well beyond the $6.8 million raised by his competitor and GOP frontrunner, Sen. John McCain. The figures, it should be noted, were tallied at the end of December when the political dynamics were very much different.

Nevertheless, the scope of Romney's personal wealth and the extent of his self-financing have become recent fodder on the campaign trail. In a recent debate, the Massachusetts Republican declined to reveal just how much money he was giving his campaign. Though he has been willing to flaunt his campaign wealth as evidence that he remains a viable White House contender.

"I have authorized a seven-figure -- I won't give you the exact number -- but a seven-figure advertising buy for our campaign," Romney told the Washington Post. "But frankly, at this stage, I don't think anyone will be advertising on a per-person basis the level we did in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and Florida."

Romney, the former CEO of the private equity firm Bain Capital, is said to be worth $250 million. The $35 million he has used on his presidential campaign does not include what he lent himself during the month of January. That amount -- should Romney stick to his self-financing pattern -- should push the total figure for personal wealth spent over the $40 million mark.

See who is bankrolling the 2008 Presidential election. Search by name or street address to see the cash donations and political leanings of your boss, neighbors, relatives, friends, and favorite celebrities with Huffington Post's FundRace.

Comments

[JackNasty]

Who is dying Mitt Romney's eyebrows?

In a world with high resolution digital photography, a bad dye job is no longer acceptable. With all the money he has to blow on a vanity campaign for the presidency, surely Mitt could afford a professional eyebrow dye.

[truthyguy]

Romney has 74 delegates.

That is a cost to him personally of $472,973 per delegate. So why is he telling anyone who will listen that he is a great business executive? At that rate, to get the delegates needed for his party's nomination (1,191) he will have to spend a mere $528,310,8­00.00 more.

He doesn't have that kind of Bill Gates money, and I doubt that any of the republican contributors will consider him a good investment - because, after all, they are businessmen.

[armadillious2002]

Like Obama said last night - Romney hasn't gotten a very good return on his investment.

[mamacat]

Does Romney still claim a relationship with Dr. King, and that his sons are doing their national service by working for his campaign?

[frappe]

Mitt, I thought you were supposed to be a smart businessman? Dumping $35,000,000 of your own money into a losing effort was not a wise investment. This is another reason why voters shouldn't vote for you -- poor decision making and judgment.

[rollingdivision]

Welcome to the unintended consequences of McCain Feingold. And the neat thing is since it's his own personal fortune, Romney just like the 527s, doesn't have to disclose anything! The answer is complete, unlimited private and corporate funding with 100% full disclosure within 24 hours on the internet. There's more and more hidden money under McCain Feingold then before, great.

[1will]

That's still peanuts compared to what Bloomberg paid to buy the mayor's office.

[Witchitalineman]

I don't support the republicans no matter who is the nominee but you cannot fault Mitt Romney for spending money he has earned in anyway he sees fit. Good for him. McCain just sucks.

[ariadne1]

it would seem, as obama most aptly put it in last nites debate, not to be a very good investment after all.

such much for the ceo...

[truthyguy]

Chump change.
The guy was born into money and then proceeded to accumulate more on the backs of the middle-class. His bio on his web site says "Romney enjoyed a successful career helping businesses grow and improve their operations". What it does not mention is that he "improved" the businesses by wholesale firings of the employees to cut costs and then having his clients sell off parts of the business which generated more money that selling the business whole.

[ljsfolly]

Holy Moley!! The mitts want this power thing and image boost bad don't they? This is why I believe it is time to set limits on spending for campaigns. If you start to think about the amount of money I fall back into the cost per day for the war bushes lies built. I think about the cost per day of the war and what the hell all that money could do for our country and make it safer as well as what our country could be doing for poor countries adter bush is gone. While he's in office he would just send them more literature on just say no to sex! But Mitt is bordering on insane. One person who has that amount of personal wealth that he is trying to buy the office of president will turn off many who look at that money as they lose their homes, try to pay for sick kids to get well and live one paycheck away from indigent. I don't call him conservative I call him insane...h­is wife must be very proud of him for blowing money for a job and even though it's only a portion of his fortune he should find a better use for it like New Orleans if he is so willing to throw it down the crapper!!

[Ginzaman]

Now, let's switch over to if Bloomberg decides to say, screw the nationwide polls that I paid $___ million for. Let's run anyway! He's worth $15 billion? Which means he could literally buy the job. And isn't it a coincidence? that NO ONE in the neocon MSM has said anything about this yet?

[dora rice]

as long as you have to finance your own campaign and not the people, you are just buying the presidency. It should never be allowed that you give millions of your own money to run a campaign, that's not the will of the people. That's a rich guy buying the White House.

[TaxTheRichNow]

This just illustrates a fundamental principle of democracy as understood by repubicans: One dollar, one vote.

[GhostOfSchlesinger]

Well, if I spent a little under one fifth of my personal wealth I could . . .

Well, who's up for Lebanese tonight? I can just taste the tabbouleh offering up its flavor on the altar of my tongue. But then again I studied The Method, so . . .

Besides, that wouldn't add up to enough for a :30 on any of the stations in the Los Angeles Clear Channel cluster.

But, of course, a national campaign probably has a skilled team of buyers, so maybe - if I was willing to forgo my monthly date with my wife - I might be able to scrape together enough for one spot.

Then again, what if all of us pooled our money and donated to one candidate? Not Romney, of course, as he's . . . Well, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" comes to mind. A lucky coincidence, as it appears that's precisely where the voters are sending the centrist-t­urned-righ­ty that so tingles the toes of Talk Radiots.

But enough about Future Business Leaders of the Primaries.

We'd pick someone that was authentic, a real human being; someone that, while evidencing a powerful policy mind, was gifted with the sort of charisma that would inspire Americans to cross all traditional political boundaries; and . . .

Wait . . .

We already did that.

Congratulations to us, all 650,000 Obama contributors, most of whom have donated less than the cost of a Lebanese dinner, but whose total effort has added up to $32M this month alone.

OBAMA '08