Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign is reporting that it raised $18.25 million over the course of the past three months.
“Voters are responding to Mitt Romney’s message that President Obama’s policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington," said Romney National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick in a statement. "Our fundraising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country."
The Romney campaign offered the following rundown on the numbers:
- Amount Raised In Primary Contributions:18.25 Million
- Cash On Hand In Primary Contributions:12.6 Million
- Primary Contributions Received From All 50 States And Washington, D.C.
- Second Quarter Burn Rate: 31%
Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake at the Washington Post note:
Romney’s total is short of the $23.5 million he raised in the first quarter of 2007 -- a sum seeded by roughly $2.5 million of his own money. He did not make any personal contributions during this reporting period, although he has not ruled out doing so during the campaign. In the 2008 race, Romney donated $44.5 million of his own money to the effort.
News of Romney's fundraising numbers for the last three months comes on the heels of a new poll showing the presidential contender leading his Republican primary rivals by a wide margin in the key primary state of New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, the latest fundraising numbers out for Newt Gingrich's campaign paint a much grimmer picture of the state of the former House Speaker's political pursuit. Politico reports that the Republican candidate will report netting $2 million over the past three months and having $225,000 in the bank at the end of June. According to the website, however, the Gingrich campaign is in debt:
Gingrich supporters acknowledge that his debt represents a serious financial challenge, though they note that the Republican has paid down about 10 percent of $1.2 million in invoices since June 9, when most of his senior political staff resigned.
The AP reported last month that the Gingrich campaign was in the red the same day as the candidate's top two fundraising advisers jumped ship from his political operation.