Rich Mitt Romney Meets a Not-So-Rich Campaign

March 2, 2012 -- For a mega-millionaire like Mitt Romney, money would seem to be the least of his worries.

But after burning through campaign cash to prevent what would have been an embarrassing loss in Michigan, Romney might be feeling the same way Rick Santorum felt at the beginning of the primary season — a little bit shorter on money than he'd like.

No sign of the Romney campaign's financial situation was clearer than in the front-runner's victory speech in Michigan Tuesday night, after he beat Santorum by three percentage points.

"And I'm asking for you, by the way, to go on mittromney.com and pledge your support in every way possible," Romney told his supporters as he stifled a laugh.

Some might wonder why, if Romney needs money to campaign aggressively in the Super Tuesday states that will go to the polls in four days, he doesn't dip into his own wealth.

When Romney ran for president four years ago, he spent more than $40 million on his campaign. But this time around he hasn't spent any of his own money.

In January, Romney's campaign spent more than $18 million purchasing waves of advertising in Iowa, a state he lost by a few votes, and in Florida, a state he won after a "super PAC" supporting him savaged Newt Gingrich in ads.

With less than $8 million available in his campaign coffers after January, Romney focused on trying to close the gap with Santorum in Michigan. The Washington Post reported that of the money the Romney campaign had at the end of January, "has almost certainly burned through most or all of that since then."

The campaign spent more than $2 million on advertising in Michigan and Ohio, according to Washington Post story.

Romney's campaign is looking to raise a few million dollars this month at fundraisers, including stops at hotels in Miami and New York City.

The Super Tuesday Challenge

Super Tuesday on March 6 poses a unique challenge for Romney; it will be the first major contest in which he'll have to compete aggressively in more than one state at once.

"Everybody knows that having to expend so much of his resources to win his own home state is just embarrassing," Keith Appell, a Republican strategist, who is not affiliated with any of the candidates in this race, said of the Michigan race. "Now you begin to wonder: Does he have the money to take out a Santorum or a Gingrich in all of these states?"

Slater Bayliss, a fundraiser for Romney in Florida, said that Romney's wins in Michigan and in Arizona on Tuesday will bring him enough money from donors to take him through Super Tuesday.

"As far as I know, there are no plans to use personal money," Bayliss said in an email. "Having said that, Governor Romney's checkbook has to be viewed by his political opponents as a nuclear weapon in his political arsenal."

Appell predicts that at some point Romney will be forced to write a check to his campaign from his own fortune. But if he does so, it would allow his opponents to argue that their support is more organic, and that they don't need as much money to compete.

The Santorum Effect on Romney's Campaign

Fundraisers say that Romney has gotten some money lately from donors who have started to fear that Santorum's success signals that he is a real threat, and no longer a sideshow.

"All of a sudden, he's got real competition," said Fred Zeidman, a Romney fundraiser in Texas, referring to Santorum. "Everybody, you know, is concerned."

For Santorum, success has meant no longer running his campaign on a shoestring budget. The campaign raised $9 million in February from more than 100,000 donors, according to the Santorum campaign.

With polling showing Santorum leading Romney in key Super Tuesday states like Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ohio, the Romney campaign may want to focus its efforts on one state — like Ohio — and argue that its primary is the most important one.

Unlike previous contests this year, candidates won't be able to spend several consecutive days on the ground in one state if they expect to finish strong in more than one of the 10 primaries taking place in just a few days.

"When you only have to focus on one state, his money advantage proved to benefit him," Appell said. "But now that whole thing may flip. If they can make it about one state and load it up against Santorum there and win there, then they think they can spin that the race is over."