For Immediate Release Contact: Michael Malbin October 17, 2011 (202) 969-8890 ext. 221

Brendan Glavin ext. 223



CFI Analysis of September 30th Presidential Reports



Romney and Perry Financially Separate

from the GOP Pack; President Obama Raises the Bulk of His Money from Small Donors For detailed data, see list of tables below. Follow CFI on Twitter:







The financial second-tier is topped by Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. Cain, who is doing well in recent public opinion polls, raised $2.8 million in the third-quarter of 2011, ending with $1.3 million cash in hand. Bachmann raised $3.9 million but spent even more, ending with $1.3 million in hand. None of the other GOP candidates has as much as $500,000 in cash. (See Table 1 for third-quarter data and cumulative summaries for the 2012 candidates.)



Of course, it is premature to say this tells us who will win. A candidate could do well in early states and then raise money quickly to organize for the onrush to come. Mike Huckabee did better than Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson in 2008, with much less money. (See Table 4 for the candidates who ran in 2007-2008.) It is not too early, however, to point out that capitalizing on an early success requires a serious organization able to compete in many states at once. That capacity has not yet been shown below the top tier and time maybe getting short, particularly with some states still jockeying to move forward.



GOP DONOR SOURCES – LARGE DONORS FOR THE TOP TIER



Here are a few other third-quarter tidbits revealed in the tables for the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012: Romney and Perry are raising the bulk of their money from large donors (see Table 2).

Perry, who started his campaign during the third quarter, received 80 percent of his money from donors who gave him the maximum amount of $2,500. Ninety-one percent of his money has come from donors who gave $1,000 or more.



More than half (53 percent) of Romney's third-quarter money came from $2,500 donors. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) came from donors who gave $1,000 or more.

At the other end of the GOP giving spectrum, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul raised $7.2 million from donors who gave $200 or less in the third quarter. This was 58 percent of the small-donor money raised by all GOP candidates combined in the quarter. Another 29 percent of the GOP’s small-donor money came from supporters of Mitt Romney ($2 million) and Herman Cain ($1.6 million). Cain's small donor support represented 60 percent of his individual contributions. Romney’s was only 14 percent, but this was a substantial increase from the 6 percent in the period through June 30. (For CFI's earlier report, see http://www.cfinst.org/federal/president.aspx.)



OBAMA POWERED BY SMALL DONORS



On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama raised more money in the third-quarter for his uncontested primary election campaign ($39.7 million) than Mitt Romney and Rick Perry combined. Even more than in 2008, the President's campaign committee is being powered by small donors. Sixty percent of Obama's third-quarter funds came from donors who gave him $200 or less during the three month period.

The Obama campaign actually took in less money ($8.7 million) from donors who gave $1,000 or more than did either Perry ($15.4 million) or Romney ($10.3 million).

Two caveats about cross-candidate comparisons are in order, however:

First, the President has helped raised over $40 million for the Democratic National Committee through the joint fundraising committee, Obama Victory Fund 2012. Most of this was from major donors.



Second, large-donor supporters of Perry and Romney (and other candidates) are giving legally unlimited amounts to candidate-specific "Super-PACs", which can make unlimited independent expenditures.



Please see the following tables for more details about third-quarter and cumulative fundraising by the 2012 candidates, as well as their predecessors four years ago.







Tables:

































The Campaign Finance Institute is a nonpartisan research institute based

in Washington DC. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute or its staff

do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's trustees or financial supporters.



# 30 # The Republican presidential field has separated into two tiers – perhaps two and a half. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry sit clearly on top, with about $15 million each in cash on hand to take on the early primaries and caucuses. Ron Paul is in a middle range, with $8.3 million in receipts between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2011 and $3.7 million in hand. Then there is a big gap to all of the others.The financial second-tier is topped by Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. Cain, who is doing well in recent public opinion polls, raised $2.8 million in the third-quarter of 2011, ending with $1.3 million cash in hand. Bachmann raised $3.9 million but spent even more, ending with $1.3 million in hand. None of the other GOP candidates has as much as $500,000 in cash. (See Table 1 for third-quarter data and cumulative summaries for the 2012 candidates.)Of course, it is premature to say this tells us who will win. A candidate could do well in early states and then raise money quickly to organize for the onrush to come. Mike Huckabee did better than Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson in 2008, with much less money. (See Table 4 for the candidates who ran in 2007-2008.) It is not too early, however, to point out that capitalizing on an early success requires a serious organization able to compete in many states at once. That capacity has not yet been shown below the top tier and time maybe getting short, particularly with some states still jockeying to move forward.Here are a few other third-quarter tidbits revealed in the tables for the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012:On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama raised more money in the third-quarter for his uncontested primary election campaign ($39.7 million) than Mitt Romney and Rick Perry combined.Please see the following tables for more details about third-quarter and cumulative fundraising by the 2012 candidates, as well as their predecessors four years ago. Table 1. 2012 Presidential Fundraising Receipts, Debts and Cash on Hand as of 9/30/2011 Table 2. Individual Donors to 2012 Presidential Candidates Cumulative through 9/30/2011 Table 3. Individual Donors to 2012 Presidential Candidates 7/1 – 9/30/2011 (3rd Quarter only) Table 4. 2008 Presidential Fundraising Receipts, Debts and Cash on Hand as of 9/30/2007 Table 5. Individual Donors to 2008 Presidential Candidates Cumulative through 9/30/2007



