WASHINGTON -- The presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced a haul of $14 million in the third quarter of 2011, after raising $18 million in the second quarter.
The Romney campaign also announced $14 million cash on hand. The campaign ended the second quarter with $12 million on hand, indicating that the campaign spent that $12 million in the third quarter, burning through $130,000 per day from July through September.
While the fundraising numbers will help cement Romney's frontrunner status, there are some troubles lurking in the details. While the campaign saw a 73 percent increase in the total number of donors in the third quarter, it only raised contributions from 55,000 individual donors. By comparison, Romney's primary opponent Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) announced donations from 100,000 individual donors in the third quarter alone, and the campaign of President Barack Obama is nearing the 1 million donor mark for the year.
Romney continues to have one of the lowest percentages of small-dollar donors among candidates in the Republican primary. His campaign's percentage of small-dollar donors did increase from a measly 6 percent of donations to 10 percent, but accounted for a little more than $1.4 million in contributions.
Romney's campaign has largely been reliant on big-money donors from New York, Utah, Massachusetts and Texas, and that money is expected to continue to flow in. Already, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and Home Depot founder Ken Langone, two major Republican donors, have left the sidelines to announce their support for Romney -- after their preferred candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, decided not to run and instead endorsed Romney.
Romney's announced third quarter campaign donations trail the amount raised by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who announced a haul close to $17 million for the third quarter earlier in October.
Romney has so far raised $32 million for his 2012 presidential run. At this point in his 2008 campaign, he had raised a total of $44 million. His third quarter numbers, however, are better in 2011 than they were in 2007, when he only raised $9.8 million.
