Campaign Fundraising: March Financial Round-Up
Friday was FEC filing day - that day when political campaigns and independent expenditure committees (more commonly known as Super PACs) are required to submit their financial reports for the previous month. Today's reports - which covered the month of March - showed that Romney and Obama had good months for fundraising, while Santorum, Gingrich and Paul had less than stellar months. For Santorum, his debt had begun to pile up by the end of March, and looking over the numbers, the logic behind his decision to drop out of the race in mid-April is reinforced.
On the Super PAC end, the group supporting Romney - Restore Our Future - continued to pull in big donations, while Priorities USA, the group supporting Obama, continues to see slightly anemic numbers. Gingrich's Super PAC continues to be financed almost exclusively by the family of Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, and Karl Rove's Crossroads is king where fundraising is concerned.
Below are the top line fundraising numbers for each of the respective campaigns and groups: for the month of March.
ROMNEY
Raised: $12.59 million
Spent: $10.27 million
Cash on Hand: $10 million
They have no debt.
RESTORE OUR FUTURE (PRO-ROMNEY SUPER PAC)
Raised: $8.6 million in March.
Spent: $12.7 million
COH: $10.4 million
No debt.
SANTORUM
Raised: $4.9 million
Spent: $5.8 million
COH: $1.8 million
DEBT: $1.99 million
RED WHITE AND BLUE FUND (PRO-SANTORUM SUPER PAC)
Raised: $2.56 million
Spent: $2.68 million
COH: $262,949
No Debt
OBAMA FOR AMERICA
Raised: $27 million
Spent: $15.6 million
COH: $104 million
No debt.
OBAMA VICTORY FUND (Joint Fundraising Committee with Obama and DNC)
Raised: $18 million
Spent: $22 million
COH: $3.7 million
No debt.
PRIORITIES USA (PRO-OBAMA SUPER PAC)
Raised: $2.4 million
Spent: $318,254
COH: $5 million
No debt.
GINGRICH
Raised: $1.6 million
Spent: $2 million
COH: $1.2 million
Debt: $4.3 million
WINNING OUR FUTURE (PRO-GINGRICH SUPER PAC)
Raised: $5.05 million ($5 million of which was donated by Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson's wife.)
Spent: $1.5 million
COH: $5.8 million
No debt.
CROSSROADS (American Crossroads plus its grassroots groups, Crossroads GPS)
Raised: $49 million for January, February, March
Spent: $444,639 in March (for American Crossroads only)
COH: $24.4 million (for American Crossroads only)
No debt.
RON PAUL
Raised: $2.6 million - down for the third month in a row
Spent: $2.2 million
COH: $1.8 million
No debt.