Paul raised $13 million in Q4--Huntsman puts 200K behind final NH ad--RGA raised $44.1 mm in 2011--Perry in, Bachmann out--DNC brackets Romney-McCain rally

( [email protected]; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

EXCLUSIVE – PAUL RAISES $13 MILLION IN Q4: Ron Paul’s campaign raised $13 million in the last three months of the year. The impressive figure comes after he took in $8 million during the third quarter. The cash flow will allow the Texas congressman to compete through later primaries and caucuses. Because he has the most loyal donor base – the cause of liberty primarily motivates them, not access or perks – he should be able to continue raising substantial sums in the wake of his third-place finish in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses.


Only Mitt Romney will be able to post a higher number. Sources told us just before Christmas it will be $20+ million.

Rick Santorum raised just over $1 million in the 24 hours after his eight-vote loss in the caucuses. He told voters at a rally in Rockingham, N.H., last night that 50 percent of all the money he’s raised to date came in over the course of the day. Money will continue to flow as long as he has momentum, but he’s playing catch up and needs to build a bundler network.

Newt Gingrich has said he raised about $10 million during the 90-day period, but he still has debt on the books and donations almost certainly dried up as he collapsed in the last two weeks. Rick Perry reportedly still has around $3.5 million in cash on hand in his campaign account, but fundraising from those without Texas ties will continue to get harder as the governor’s path to victory becomes steeper.

NASHUA, N.H.—Greetings from the Granite State. I checked out Santorum’s town hall last night in Rockingham ( http://politi.co/AjZBvC). I’m following Jon Huntsman around today to see if there’s any chance he might make some magic happen in the five days that remain until the first-in-the-nation primary.

HUNTSMAN’S NEW AD – “WE ARE GETTING SCREWED AS AMERICANS”: The former Utah governor is putting $200,000 behind an ad that will go on New Hampshire airwaves today. It highlights his closing message – Restoring Trust. As Huntsman says “we are getting screwed as Americans” in the opening seconds, the message that appears on the screen is: “Only one candidate will END THE WAR and rebuild America.” The 30-second spot also notes that he passed a flat tax and calls him the one candidate who can beat President Obama. He told reporters yesterday that Iowa shows the race is wide open, and he tried to present himself as the Santorum of New Hampshire: http://bo.st/wNkbWW, Watch the ad: http://bit.ly/xxiAEU.

SNEAK PEEK – RGA RAISES $44.1 MILLION IN 2011: The Republican Governors Association will announce later today that they raised $44.1 million last year. They have $26.6 million cash on hand, more than any other party committee. It’s twice the fundraising of 2007 and cash-on-hand is triple what it was at the end of that year.

** As Perry stays in, Bachmann gets out and McCain heads to South Carolina, here’s POLITICO’s Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

THE NARRATIVE – ROMNEY PROBABLY CANNOT BE STOPPED: “Because of the divided nature of the opposition and Romney’s organizational and financial advantages, GOP elites made the case Wednesday that there was no clear way he could be stopped,” Jonathan Martin wrote last night. “I thought Newt [Gingrich] could’ve been a threat for a while, but [the insurgents] have not been able to unify,” said one former Republican national chairman. A veteran House Republican who is ostensibly neutral said: “I sort of think it’s over, right?” “South Carolina and Florida are the nails in the coffin, which is why the right is so mad — they see it coming but the dominoes are falling just right for Mitt as they did for [John] McCain,” said the House member. http://politi.co/yoUBek

USA TODAY’S HEADLINE asserts that Santorum is “WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF GOP NOMINATION.” This seems like quite a stretch to us and the pros we cavort with. The kicker of the four-byline story comes from Gary Bauer, the conservative activist and 2000 Republican candidate: “He needs enough money to do an ad buy, set up phone banks and get some free publicity. Any candidate who can put those things together still has a shot." http://usat.ly/xtdWB4

“A BIG WIN FOR ROMNEY IN IOWA” – KARL ROVE LOOKS TO THE WEEKEND’S DEBATES: “By this time next week, we'll know if Mr. Romney is 2-0. If so, he becomes the prohibitive favorite,” George W. Bush’s architect writes in his column for today’s Wall Street Journal. “The former Massachusetts governor should prepare to be the piñata at Saturday's debate in Manchester, N.H. It won't be pleasant, but he can solidify his lead if he deflects the attacks in a dignified, confident manner and avoids looking irritated or rattled. As in earlier debates, better to look amused rather than annoyed.” http://on.wsj.com/zfuvCY

UNION LEADER – TRYING TO HEIGHTEN EXPECTATIONS FOR ROMNEY: “Romney is flying high in New Hampshire in this final week of the campaign. Perhaps too high for his own good,” John DiStaso writes in today’s article for the pro-Gingrich paper, the largest in the state. “With the latest New Hampshire polls showing him with more than double the support of his closest rival, Romney can't escape the expectation that he should not only win the first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday, but that anything less than a double-digit victory margin would be an under-performance and a sign of weakness in what is supposed to be his stronghold, his catapult to the nomination. After all, Romney is far more well-known in this state than any of his rivals. He's from Massachusetts. He has a home in Wolfeboro. He ran for President in 2008 and kept in close touch with the state in the intervening years. He has been revving up his campaign here for more than a year.” http://bit.ly/w60yOo

ROMNEY gets the cover of TIME: http://ti.me/y52vzt.

SANTORUM gets the cover of NATIONAL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/zccMXN.

PERRY STAYS IN – SAYS THE DECISION WASN’T HARD: “Gov. Rick Perry surprised the political world and many of his own advisers Wednesday by deciding to stay in the Republican presidential race despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses,” per the Austin American-Statesman’s Jason Embry. “After his poor showing in Iowa became clear Tuesday, Perry said he would return home to Texas to re-assess his campaign. But the reassessment didn’t take that long; while still in the Des Moines area Wednesday morning, Perry wrote on Twitter that he would take his campaign to South Carolina, posting a photo from his morning jog. ‘I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me,’ an upbeat Perry said a couple of hours later as he left his hotel in West Des Moines. He later added, ‘This was not a difficult decision.’ Perry said he will participate in a pair of debates in New Hampshire this weekend. He is unlikely to do well in the primary there Tuesday, so he is setting his sights on South Carolina’s Jan. 21 primary.” Story: http://bit.ly/yMDZHJ. As Perry looks to South Carolina, Alex Burns says the state will be very important for everyone: http://bit.ly/ySOjkn.

D’OH: Karl Rove notes in his column today that Perry paid roughly $430 per vote at the caucuses with the $5.5 million he spent on Iowa TV ads. http://on.wsj.com/zfuvCY

BACHMANN DROPS OUT: “Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign, which began in Iowa and was defined by Iowa, ended Wednesday morning in Iowa,” the Des Moines Register’s Jason Noble writes. “The Minnesota congresswoman announced in a news conference from the West Des Moines Marriott that she would acknowledge the message sent by caucus voters and end her campaign…She won just 5 percent of the vote, last among the six actively campaigning candidates. She fared poorly even in her home county of Black Hawk, winning just 7.2 percent of the votes cast there. She won no counties, was the second-highest vote-getter in tiny Emmet County and placed third in Howard and Shelby counties. Her remarks Wednesday came from the same ballroom where the previous night she had pledged to continue her campaign in South Carolina.” http://dmreg.co/x0FS0O

YAWN – DOES IT REALLY MATTER? “On a national level, it removes another road block from Santorum. “Though, here in New Hampshire, Bachmann’s exit from the race is almost irrelevant,” WMUR’s James Pindell writes http://bit.ly/wqnniU

MCCAIN ENDORSES ROMNEY – HOMECOMING AT YESTERDAY’S MANCHESTER RALLY NOT WARM: “The day after his impossibly thin eight-vote victory, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination flew here for a town hall meeting at Manchester Central High School, where he was to bask in the endorsement of his 2008 arch rival, John McCain,” Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. “But the senator grimaced when he was introduced, and as Romney delivered his own stump speech, an increasingly impatient McCain pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch. McCain gave his endorsement address without mentioning Romney’s Iowa win until the end…Then came the questions [from hecklers and occupiers]…Romney sat through most of the ambush with a tight grin and raised eyebrows…When the end mercifully came, the candidate gave a final rallying call to ‘get the White House back.’ All but a few rose and put on their coats without applauding.” http://wapo.st/zuPqzy

NEW WEB VIDEO – DNC USES MCCAIN’S WORDS AGAINST ROMNEY: A Democratic National Committee web video brackets Romney’s appearance with McCain in South Carolina today. The messaging push: “Somehow - as if John McCain had an epiphany of some sort - he's gone from complete disdain for Mitt Romney as a shape shifting, politically calculating flip-flopper in 2008 to endorsing him in 2012. The question for John McCain who regularly ridiculed Mitt Romney in 2008 as someone who had taken both sides of every issue is, #WhichMitt are you endorsing?” Watch: http://bit.ly/yA2tcv.

Watch the 2008 web video attacking Romney as a flip-flopper that has been removed from John McCain’s YouTube page: http://bit.ly/z1YjPc.

MOVEON’S NEW AD – BLAMES ROMNEY FOR CLOSING DOWN A FACTORY: MoveOn.org will begin airing an attack ad against Romney today. It features a steel worker and Army veteran, Donny Box, who lost his job at Kansas City's GST after Bain Capital took it over. Box says Romney cares more about making money than creating jobs. The 30-second spot will begin airing on New Hampshire cable today through next Tuesday. The group is not publicly disclosing the size of the buy. Watch: http://bit.ly/xJ4iJx.

ENDORSEMENT – NASHUA TELEGRAPH BACKS ROMNEY: “[W]e do agree with him Washington is broken. That there is a leadership gap – more like a cavern – that imperils the nation. And that he is the most-accomplished Republican in the field to fix it,” the paper’s editors write in today’s edition. http://bit.ly/xBz4vL

GINGRICH ATTACKS – THERE WILL BE BLOOD:

SORE LOSER? – NEWT REFUSES TO CONGRATULATE ROMNEY ON IOWA WIN: “The fact is, Gov. Romney in the end has a very limited appeal in conservative party,” Gingrich told reporters in New Hampshire. CBS’ Sarah Huisenga captures the money moment of the press conference: “Asked by a local reporter if he would buy a home in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where Romney has a summer home, Gingrich replied, ‘No, I can’t afford things like that, I’m not rich.’ His wife, Callista, added a jab at Romney as well. ‘We have one home,’ she demurred. The Romneys own two summer homes, including one in California.” http://bit.ly/xblCP8

SHOTS FIRED, from Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond: “What would have happened to Mitt in Iowa if 45% of the ads were on Mitt's pro-abortion past?” http://bit.ly/ya3lmd

SANTORUM TALKERS –

“IN SENATE, SANTORUM FUSED PUGILISM AND PRAGMATISM”: That’s the headline in the Wall Street Journal story about his two terms. “Santorum earned a reputation during his 12-year Senate career for pursuing polarizing ideological crusades. He said the child-sex scandal involving Catholic priests was centered in Boston because it's a liberal town, made disparaging remarks about homosexuality and argued there are ‘holes’ in the theory of evolution,” writes Naftali Bendavid. “But unlike today's Senate rebels, Mr. Santorum was also willing to work within the system. He helped push through laws to overhaul the welfare system and limit late-term abortions. His GOP colleagues thought enough of him to make him the third-ranking Senate Republican, and like many of his colleagues, he was a frequent seeker of special provisions known as earmarks.” http://on.wsj.com/yYIUxF

WHO IS BACKING HIS SUPER PAC? “A wealthy Wyoming financier and conservative philanthropist confirmed today that he is one of the principal backers of a new Super PAC that spent more than $530,000 on TV ads in Iowa supporting Santorum and figures to play prominently in South Carolina and elsewhere,” NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports. “Foster Freiss, the founder of a hugely successful mutual investment fund, told NBC News that he is ‘one of a number of contributors who have rallied’ to the Red, White and Blue Fund, the new super PAC supporting Santorum. He declined to give precise figures on how much he has put into the Super PAC. ‘I don't dare let my wife know that,’ he joked.” http://on.msnbc.com/xOwUnQ

PUNDIT PREP – SANTORUM’S 2006 LOSS WAS HISTORICALLY EMBARRASSING: Since 1994, when Santorum won his Senate seat, only one incumbent from the upper chamber has lost by more than the 17 points he got trounced by in 2006 (17 points). Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat, lost by 21 points last year. Larry Sabato’s Center for Politics at the University of Virginia charts recent incumbent Senate losers: http://bit.ly/yKuKWU. [An addendum to this: Nixon lost the 1962 governor’s race but carried California six years later when he ran for president.]

VOTERS, LIKE GIRLS, JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN –GEORGE WILL’S TAKE ON SANTORUM’S SURGE: “Santorum has become central because Iowa Republicans ignored an axiom that is as familiar as it is false: Democrats fall in love, and Republicans fall in line. Republicans, supposedly hierarchical, actually are — let us say the worst — human. They crave fun,” Will writes in his column yesterday. “Supporting Mitt Romney still seems to many like a duty, the responsible thing to do. Suddenly, supporting Santorum seems like a lark, partly because a week or so ago he could quit complaining about media neglect and start having fun, which is infectious.” http://wapo.st/zqWYLy

ROMNEY’S BALANCING ACT – NATIONAL REVIEW EDITORS ADVISE CAUTION ON APPROACH TO ATTACKING SANTORUM: “Romney should be careful in his attacks on Santorum. If he disagrees with Santorum’s approach to winning over blue-collar voters — and some of the policies Santorum recommends in that regard deserve criticism — he will nonetheless have to express that disagreement in a way that does not deepen his own difficulty in appealing to them. Romney would be well within his rights to stress his business and executive credentials, and implicitly or explicitly Santorum’s lack thereof, and to make the case that he is a stronger general-election candidate. But if he appears to cooperate in a media campaign to portray social conservatism as extreme, he will weaken himself severely.” http://bit.ly/xpn9va

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO: Here are details of all 15 events in New Hampshire today, plus Romney’s 3:45 p.m. South Carolina rally. http://politi.co/nKs8EW

MARK YOUR CALENDAR – POLITICO PREVIEW EVENT IN MANCHESTER NEXT MONDAY: Our New Hampshire Primary Preview is at 6 p.m. next Monday at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei host a conversation with Ovide Lamontagne, New Hampshire GOP gubernatorial candidate, and a media roundtable with Dan Balz of The Washington Post, Candy Crowley of CNN, Jonathan Karl of ABC News and Chuck Todd of NBC News. There’s a reception after. RSVP: http://bit.ly/wERIkt.

IOWA POST-MORTEM – ROMNEY’S SECRET WEAPON WAS A LIST OF 30,000 SUPPORTERS: “Even as his campaign leadership claimed into the fall that they were keeping their options open here, Romney’s targeters were quietly maintaining a continuous tally of their supporters in Iowa, a list that proved unexpectedly stable even as other candidates rose and fell in the polls,” Slate’s Sasha Issenberg, the author of the forthcoming book Victory Lab writes in an after-action Iowa report for Slate. “It had become a stock observation to note that Mitt Romney just couldn’t move from 25 percent in Iowa—his support was both resistant to growth and impervious to decay. But what was more important for Romney’s team was not just that his total share of the vote remained steady but that the individual voters who comprised it didn’t move either, making it easy to keep track of who they were and to mobilize them personally… Romney’s Iowa staff triaged the electorate based on their micro-targeting research. Republicans who showed no interest in caucusing—or looked unlikely to back their candidate—were pushed off Romney’s lists for good.” http://slate.me/zp8Jwt

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO – TALKING ABOUT DEFENSE AT 10:50 A.M. ET: “Later, in the morning the President will deliver remarks at the Pentagon on the Defense Strategic Review, which will guide our budget priorities and decisions going forward. He will be joined by Secretary of Defense Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey. The President’s remarks come after a comprehensive review of our defense strategy by the President, America’s civilian and uniformed military leadership, and the Administration’s national security team.”

ARIZONA HOUSE – GIFFORDS SET TO ATTEND JAN. 8 VIGIL: “U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will participate in a Jan. 8 vigil at the University of Arizona Sunday evening,” according to the Daily Star. “While in Tucson, Giffords will not give interviews…The vigil on the UA Mall is one of dozens of events that will be held in Tucson and the surrounding area this weekend to observe the tragedy in which 19 people were shot last year at Giffords' Congress On Your Corner at a shopping center in Northwest Tucson…Giffords' staff did not say whether the congresswoman will speak at the vigil.” http://bit.ly/wV4lfm

REMEMBER HIM? – CAIN GOING ON BUS TOUR TO PUSH 9-9-9: The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO announced plans to tour the country to raise support for the ‘9-9-9’ plan that was the star of his aborted presidential run, hoping to rally congressional sponsors for his plan to replace the federal Tax Code with a 9 percent corporate tax, 9 percent personal income tax and a 9 percent national sales tax,” per Juana Summers. “The one-time Republican front-runner announced his ‘Cain’s Solutions Revolution’ during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night.” http://politi.co/AagAB7

CODA – QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me." – Rick Perry on his decision to stay in the race http://bit.ly/yMDZHJ

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