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.