Mitt Romney continued to dominate the money race in Georgia as the former Massachusetts governor out-raised all other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in the final quarter of 2011.
Reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show Georgians contributed more than $525,000 to Romney from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House who represented Georgia in Congress for 20 years, reported raising more than $350,000 here for the period.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the other two GOP candidates, were third and fourth respectively in Georgia fundraising.
Romney’s take for the quarter was also better than that of President Barack Obama.
Joe McCutchen, an Ellijay businessman and Romney supporter, said the fundraising figures show Georgians are prepared for Romney to be the nominee.
“Romney has got an incredible level of support here,” McCutchen said. “Romney is extremely strong in Georgia. I’m not going to predict we’re going to win Georgia, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we did.”
Romney finished third in Georgia’s 2008 presidential primary and retained a network of support from his previous run. The front-runner for the nomination will return to Atlanta on Wednesday for another fundraiser.
‘Wal-Mart campaign’
While Gingrich trailed Romney in total dollars raised in the state, Gingrich’s support was much more broad.
Gingrich received nearly 1,000 individual contributions, compared to 559 for Romney. That shows Gingrich is building a campaign made up of regular Georgians, not the well-heeled sources funding Romney, his spokeswoman said.
“Ours is a campaign of Wal-Mart Republicans and conservatives struggling to achieve the American dream in this lingering Obama recession,” Susan Meyers said.
“We are getting a lot of small donations from those who believe in Newt’s conservative vision — so much that they made sacrifices to be part of his team. We aren’t flush with cash from those who made money on Wall Street, the stock market or the housing crisis.”
Not all of Gingrich’s donors, of course, are “Wal-Mart Republicans.” He received more than $15,000 from attorneys, roughly the same amount from business executives, including a check from Charles Loudermilk, chairman of Atlanta-based Aaron’s Inc.
Homemakers pitched in another $15,000, while retirees — those who might best remember Gingrich’s time in Congress — were his biggest donor.
Romney, on the other hand, pulled in more than $40,000 from attorneys, more than $75,000 from business executives and owners, including $1,000 from the chairman of Callaway Gardens.
Homemakers, too, favored Romney but Gingrich drew more support from retirees.
Gingrich scored well with those employed in the health care industry. Physicians, nurses, pharmaceutical company employees and others contributed more than $25,000 to Gingrich, who has vowed to repeal much of Obama’s health care overhaul.
That’s twice as much as Paul raised from health care workers and more than Romney raised from the sector.
Man of conviction
Larry Stepp is a health care consultant in Marietta, but said it wasn’t Gingrich’s position on federal health care legislation that brought him into the Gingrich camp.
“He truly has convictions about his positions,” Stepp, who gave Gingrich $1,000, said. “I’m not saying he hasn’t changed — everybody has changed positions on certain events. But in my mind he truly has conviction.”
Stepp said he’s never contributed to a political campaign before, but “finally I just thought put your money where your mouth is.”
Jason Barta, who owns his own marketing and design firm in Dacula, said he gave $450 to Gingrich because of the candidate’s breadth of experience.
“Newt has the best and boldest ideas for making change in the country,” Barta said. “He is very un-similar to our current president and will bring a lot of knowledge, wisdom and experience to the office.”
But Walter Boden, a real estate broker in Atlanta, said those same types of qualities are what led him to Romney.
“He’s probably got better professional contacts than any of the others,” Boden, who gave Romney $100, said. “We’re talking about a candidate that needs to be reliable and experienced. He presents himself very well and he’s very consistent in how he acts.”
Romney’s success in Georgia in the fourth quarter of 2011 mirrored his success here throughout the campaign. Since launching his current bid, Romney has raised $1.15 million from Georgia, more than any other candidate. Gingrich’s fourth-quarter performance here was more than he raised in all but three states. Florida, site of his stinging defeat this week, was his top donor state, followed by Texas and California.
Gingrich outraised Romney in nine states plus Puerto Rico. In the major financial centers of the country — California, Texas, New York, Illinois — Romney crushed Gingrich by an almost 8-to-1 margin.
For the quarter, Romney raised more than $22 million to Gingrich’s $4.76 million.
The Race for Cash
Money the candidates for president raised in the fourth quarter in Georgia and what they’ve amassed to date.
Newt Gingrich
$353,409: Raised in Georgia in 4th quarter
$702,231: Overall raised in Georgia
$12.6 million: Total raised for campaign
Ron Paul
$130,257: Raised in Georgia in 4th quarter
$278,951: Overall raised in Georgia
$25.9 million: Total raised for campaign
Barack Obama
$397,064: Raised in Georgia in 4th quarter
$1.1 million: Overall raised in Georgia
$125.2 million: Total raised for campaign
Mitt Romney
$525,521: Raised in Georgia in 4th quarter
$1.1 million: Overall raised in Georgia
$56.1 million: Total raised for campaign
Rick Santorum
$9,300: Raised in Georgia in 4th quarter
$42,300: Overall raised in Georgia
$2.2 million: Total raised for campaign
Source: Federal Election Commission; all data through Dec. 31, 2011
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