July 6, 2011

Mitt Romney Crushes GOP Field in Latest Cash Haul

Christy Bowe/Globe Photos/ZUMApress.com

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Mitt Romney’s repeated flip-flopping may have cast doubt on his frontrunner status in the GOP presidential field, but when it comes to raking in campaign cash, he’s way, way ahead of the pack.

According to his campaign, Romney raised $18.25 million in April, May, and June—more than all the other GOP presidential contenders combined. (Rep. Michele Bachmann has not yet disclosed her fundraising haul for the 2011 second quarter.) More than half of Romney’s contributions came from a single national phone fundraiser in May. Unlike former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and tea party favorite Herman Cain, Romney’s campaign says he didn’t contribute a dime to his latest fundraising total. In a statement, Romney’s campaign said his haul is evidence that voters are buying his more moderate, jobs-centric message.

While Romney’s numbers easily trump his competitors’, he trails his own fundraising totals from his first presidential bid four years ago. In the first three months of 2007, Romney had already raked in $23.5 million, $2.5 million of which was his own money.

This time around, it’s not just Romney’s campaign that’s pulling in big bucks. A super PAC run by former aides to Romney, called Restore Our Future, announced recently that it had bagged $12 million in the first half of 2011. Groups like this one can accept unlimited donations from individuals, unions, and corporations, but must disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission. The only other presidential candidate with a similarly aligned super PAC is President Obama; earlier this year, former Obama White House aides Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney started Priorities USA Action, which is devoted to pushing back against Republican outside spending groups and supporting the president.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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