Romney to report less than $20m haul

Mitt Romney greets a volunteer at his "National Call Day" fundraising event at the Las Vegas Convention Center on May 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He raised $10.25 million that day, more than half of the amount he’ll report for the entire fundraising quarter. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

By Matt Viser

June 30, 2011

2 minutes to read

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is planning to report that he has raised between $15 million and $20 million during a key fundraising quarter that ends today, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It is a haul that will almost certainly exceed that of all of his Republican rivals, but it won’t top the amount the former Massachusetts governor raised during the first fundraising period of his previous campaign, when he was less well-known on the national stage.

His lower take shows that Republican donors are not giving as much, either because they are unenthusiastic about the field — and its national front-runner — or because the economic downturn is making campaign fundraising more difficult. Romney also had seven fewer days to raise money this time, because of when he formed his campaign committees.

But this comes in a period where fundraising has been Romney’s major focus, and where he has traveled the country to assiduously meet with donors in traditionally strong Republican money areas. By bringing in less than $20 million, it means that more than half of his money came on a single day. His campaign raised $10.25 million during a day of fundraising in Las Vegas.

Romney’s campaign has not released any figures about how much he has spent during this period, a detail closely monitored by political insiders. He has until July 15 to file his report the the Federal Election Commission.

During the last campaign, Romney started raising money in January 2007 — at the start of the first quarter — and he took in $20.8 million from contributors and loaned himself $2.3 million in the first three months. By July 2007, he had raised a total of $35 million and loaned himself $8.8 million.

Romney is not planning to inject any of his own money into the campaign at this stage, according to communications director Gail Gitcho.

Romney has been coy about whether he would tap his own personal wealth at all during the campaign.

“That’s counsel I’m going to keep with Ann and myself, and that’s all,’’ he told reporters in May, referring to his wife. “So I can’t give you any more update than that. We’re just going to keep that to our own counsel.’’

The decision could be significant, not only on Romney’s pocketbook but also on the contours of the race. During the former Massachusetts governor’s 2008 presidential campaign, he used at least $42 million of his own funds.

Romney could be buoyed by outside money this time, though.

A separate group — formed by Romney supporters but unable to coordinate with the campaign — is planning to report at least $10 million during this quarter, according to the Journal.

Romney campaign officials in recent days had declined requests from the Globe to detail his fundraising figures, but released the range on-the-record to the Journal.