Herman Cain's campaign contributions swelled in recent months as his candidacy caught fire, according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His campaign says it is now raising $1 million a week.
Still, he lags far behind several rivals for the Republican nomination.
Cain had raised $5.3 million through Sept. 30 for his presidential bid, with almost half of that coming since July, according to the most recent figures released by the Federal Elections Commission. He is on track to double that within a few weeks, said campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon.
Gordon said the new money is being used to hire staff in states with early primaries and caucuses. Pundits say Cain can't win the GOP nomination without a solid ground operation, and Gordon acknowledged as much.
"We are hiring new staff, new people in these states," he said. "We now have a paid staff presence in a dozen states.
"We have the resources to do this," Gordon added. "We didn't have that before."
Yet, with just over two months before the primary season opens, some analysts still question whether Cain has enough time and resources build a full-fledged organization.
His war chest is dwarfed by the those of the candidates he opposes. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has raised $32 million, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who entered the race long after Cain, has raised $17 million. None of the Republican contenders comes near the $89 million raised by President Barack Obama.
"Cain is near the bottom of the ladder" in terms of fundraising, said Michael Beckel, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. "He doesn't have the traditional bells and whistles."
The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza has largely depended on his charismatic presence and dynamic performances in TV debates to catapult him to the forefront of the Republican race. He began distinguishing himself after an impressive performance at the first Republican debate May 5. In late September he won a Florida straw poll, which propelled him past more well-funded opponents.
As for contributions, his take in September was triple that in August, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of the donations itemized in his FEC filings. (The FEC does not require candidates to itemize donations of less than $200; they are reported in aggregate.)
In general, the Henry County resident and former Atlanta talk show host has depended on donations of less than $200; more than half his total dollars are reported as a single line item.
Cain also has the advantage of a substantial personal fortune. He has loaned his campaign $675,000. While that is not a negligible sum, it is far less than other wealthy individuals have poured into various campaigns for senator or governor.
Cain's greatest asset as a candidate is not his financial resources but his ability to grab attention, analysts said. His most recent internet ad went viral, perhaps because it featured his chief of staff smoking a cigarette, a cavalier gesture in today's hyper-sensitive public relations environment.
A CBS/New York Times poll released Tuesday showed Cain as the front-runner, with 25 percent of Republican primary voters naming him their choice for the party's candidate. Romney came in second, with 21 percent, and Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Perry a distant third, fourth and fifth.
That represents a gain of 20 percentage points for Cain since the Sept. 16 CBS poll, and a loss of 16 points for Perry, who finished first in the September poll. It is a vindication of Cain's candidacy, which many had criticized for a lack of funds and nuts-and-bolts ground operations.
However, skeptics note that Cain's challenges are many and time is short: Iowa has moved its caucuses to Jan. 3, with New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states not far behind.
"He has not made inroads with deep-pocketed contributors," Beckel said. "He's got the excitement, he's got the buzz. The question is whether he can win without the infrastructure."
Cain is moving to fill the gaps. His backers recently announced the creation of a Super PAC -- dubbed the 9-9-9 Fund in deference to his famous tax plan -- to raise money for efforts in early voting states. Organizers said they expect to make 5 million to 10 million phone calls in Iowa and other key states.
Super PACs can accept unlimited donations but cannot coordinate with the campaign. Still, their creation signals that Cain has some major backers considering pumping money into his effort, Gordon said.
Iowa is a main target, said Steve Grubbs, Cain's Iowa campaign chairman. "We believe this will support our renewed efforts to line up precinct captains in 1,500 locations across the state and help us raise the critical donations we need to fund our campaign effort."
Bob Grafstein, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said it’s difficult to say whether Cain is beefing up his ground game too late.
“Conventional wisdom says that if you haven’t set up an organization by now, you’re in trouble,” Grafstein said. But at the same time, “his ability to sustain support without the ground game is pretty remarkable.”
He added, “Cain is an extraordinary personality” -- suggesting that perhaps the old rules don’t apply.
Like the polls, Cain's financial reports show that his appeal, once most evident in Georgia, is spreading. From August to September, the percentage of his donations coming from the Peach State decreased from 29 percent to 21 percent, as more donations came in from states such as Texas and Florida.
One of Cain's largest donors is Texas billionaire Robert McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, who, along with his wife gave $20,000. McNair, who has also donated to Perry's campaign said he was disappointed with Perry's performance in the debates but was encouraged by Cain's.
"The more he's exposed to people, the more support he gathers," he said in an interview.
In recent weeks, campaign finance watchdogs have slammed Cain because his campaign used donations to purchase copies of his own book from his motivational speaking company, raising the possibility that Cain pocketed some of the money.
Gordon denied any impropriety. "There is a firewall between the campaign and the books," he said, adding that Cain does not profit from the arrangement.
Wayne Stoltenberg, another Texan, who gave Cain $10,310, said he doesn't believe Cain's actions violated either the spirit nor the letter of the law. "He’s already rich; he’s not doing this to make more money."
Stoltenberg, 44, chief financial officer of a Dallas oil and gas company, added that critics who say Cain might not be "presidential-looking" are speaking in code: What they mean, the donor suggested, is "he’s a dark-skinned black guy and he didn’t go to Harvard." Contrary to those concerns, said Stoltenberg, "Cain is our strongest general election candidate by a long shot."
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