WASHINGTON - Fewer than one in 10 of the big-bucks fundraisers who helped George W. Bush shatter presidential campaign money records in 2000 and 2004 have donated to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign, a Houston Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data has found.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a wide lead over other GOP presidential candidates in donations received nationwide from the 939 "Pioneers" and "Rangers" who raised at least $100,000 each for the Bush presidential efforts. Romney has received 148 donations totaling $351,250 from Bush's top money people, compared to Perry's 87 contributions worth $213,000 and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 47 donations for $102,867.

Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who is competing with Romney for first place in recent polling, has not received support from former Bush fundraisers, the study found.

Two of the former president's siblings, sister Dorothy and brother Marvin, have donated to Romney, according to FEC data. None of Bush's immediate family had contributed to Perry by the Sept. 30 disclosure deadline.

The results of the analysis underscore the political distance between the camps of Texas' last two governors. Longtime Bush advisers such as Karl Rove and Tony Fratto have criticized Perry's statements during his 10-week-old run for the White House. And now it is becoming clear that most of the financial "bundlers" who were responsible for bringing the 43rd president hundreds of millions of campaign dollars are keeping their distance from the man hand-picked by Bush to serve as his 1998 Texas ticket mate.

Bundler for Romney

"What this means is that the Bush team feels more policy and practical kinship with the Romney approach," said Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at UT-Austin.

Les Csorba, a former senior staff member to President George H.W. Bush and bundler for George W. Bush, said he feels Romney is the only candidate able to defeat President Barack Obama in 2012. Csorba, who now works as a Houston-based consultant, gave the maximum $2,500 individual contribution to Romney before Perry entered the race, and he continues to support the former Massachusetts governor.

"He has impeccable integrity, has strong family values, and (is) the only one in the GOP field who can really bring people together and can get things accomplished," Csorba said.

Donors went elsewhere

A major reason for Romney's advantage is that Perry insisted for months he was not running for president, so many fundraisers signed on with other candidates - particularly Romney and Pawlenty, who has since left the race.

Romney, who won the backing of some of the Bush fundraisers during his failed 2008 presidential effort, "was able to tie up some of those supporters before people thought seriously that Perry was running," said Brendan Glavin of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.

Romney, who has been running for president for nearly six years, has raised nearly twice as much money for his 2012 campaign as has Perry. But the Texan netted more than Romney in the weeks following his mid-August entry.

"Perry was well behind in picking up Bush money, but he's not out of the picture," said UT's Buchanan.

Indeed, Perry, who has received more than 60 percent of his $17 million in contributions from Texans, dominates among Bush's Texas-based fundraisers. Fifty-two of the Lone Star State's Pioneers and Rangers have donated to Perry and 22 have given to Romney. (Seven have written checks to both of them.)

Campaign cliques

But among Pioneers and Rangers in other states, Romney has an edge of more than three to one over Perry.

Romney's $2.1 million raised in Texas is less than President Barack Obama's $2.7 million take and far behind Perry's $9.7 million in home-state support.

Bush's "Pioneers and Rangers" network, the brainchild of Rove, set fundraising goals for more than 900 total bundlers participating in his 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. By creating status rankings - bundlers raising more than $100,000 were dubbed Pioneers, more than $200,000 became Rangers - Bush established an elite membership clique that raised $550 million during his two White House runs.

"In its day, they were the most powerful fundraisers in Texas history," said Craig McDonald, director of the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice.

The Perry campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

amanda.sakuma@chron.com

richard.dunham@chron.com