Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney listens as he is introduced to supporters by his vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., during the Romney-Ryan Victory Rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. on, Oct. 19.(Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack, AP)
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the
Republican Party and a constellation of outside GOP groups entered the
final campaign stretch with a nearly $46 million cash advantage for the
last-minute advertising and get-out-the-vote push in this nail-biter
election, a USA TODAY analysis of new campaign reports shows.
The
candidates and political parties collectively have raised close to $2
billion through the end of September, giving Romney and President Obama
ample cash to devote legions of staffers to swing states. Both men and
their allies readied a fresh round of advertising over the weekend ahead
of Monday's third and final debate in Boca Raton, Fla.
A Romney
ad released Sunday describes him as a bipartisan problem-solver during
his tenure as Massachusetts governor. A new Obama ad in Ohio, a
manufacturing state with 18 Electoral College votes, faults Romney for
not supporting the federal auto bailout.
"There's certainly no
shortage of cash to do the things they need to do between now and
Election Day," said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University political
scientist. "As helpful as money can be in an election, it can also have
the potential to backfire given how concentrated it is in battleground
states.
"In places that have been targeted for months, there are some people who just can't wait for this election to be over," he said.
The
campaign-finance reports filed over the weekend show Obama's camp spent
heavily to deploy staffers throughout the country and to blister Romney
on the airwaves in September. The president's campaign employed 974
staffers to Romney's 434 last month and outspent Romney by more than
2-to-1 on advertising, mailings and postage.
Filings show Romney
rewarded his staffers with bonuses, handing out more than $217,000 to 10
top aides last month. The biggest check, $37,500, went to political
director Rich Beeson. The payments marked the second round of bonuses to
staffers for helping Romney secure his party's nomination. More than
$207,000 in bonuses had been paid out in August.
The Republican
has ramped up his advertising spending in recent weeks, aided by a
fundraising surge after his strong performance in the first of three
presidential debates on Oct. 3. Romney raised more than $27 million
online during the first two weeks of October - more than the campaign
had previously collected on the Internet in a single previous month,
campaign aides said this weekend.
"Our campaign has the resources and organization to win," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.
Obama
campaign officials said the president scored the most lucrative day of
campaign fundraising of his political career Oct. 17, a day after the
candidates' second, feisty debate at Hofstra University. The campaign
said it has amassed more than 4 million donors.
Campaign spokesman
Adam Fetcher said the money is being plowed into the ground game, which
he said is leading to large numbers of Democrats turning out to vote
early in swing states. In a bid to promote early voting, Obama plans a
whirlwind campaign tour, starting Wednesday that will take him to six
battleground states in 48 hours and end with him casting an early ballot
in Chicago.
Among Republican groups, the Republican National
Committee started this month with the biggest pile of available cash,
stockpiling $82.6 million to spend in the final weeks.
Relying on
the party's money poses a potential risk to Romney, however, because
there are limits on how closely candidates and parties can coordinate
their activities. Only the candidate is entitled to the lowest rate on
television ads. As a result, any money spent by political parties and
outside groups on Romney's behalf pays for fewer ads.
While Democrats ended the month with less available cash, two-thirds of that money remained in Obama's direct control.
Reports
released over the weekend also show independent super PACs aiding Obama
and Romney had among their strongest fundraising months in September,
as some of America's wealthiest individuals wrote seven-figure checks to
influence the presidential race.
The pro-Obama Priorities USA
Action led the way, taking in nearly $15.3 million - its best monthly
haul, after struggling to compete with Republican groups earlier in the
campaign. Donors writing $1 million checks to the group last month
included director Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey
Katzenberg, the United Auto Workers union, and David Boies, the
Democratic super lawyer who represented Al Gore in the Supreme Court
case that decided the 2000 presidential election.
The last-minute
generosity of Democratic donors helped Priorities best the pro-Romney
super PAC, Restore Our Future. That group took in $14.8 million last
month, boosted by checks from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who gave $2
million and $1 million from Houston Texans owner Bob McNair. Records
show 63 corporations donated a total of $4 million to the group in
September.
American Crossroads, a major Republican super PAC
backed by former Bush administration strategist Karl Rove, raised $11.7
million, its strongest month of the year. Top donors include Dallas
billionaire industrialist Harold Simmons, who gave $2.5 million. In all,
Simmons and his wife have donated nearly $22 million to Republican
super PACs in this election. Seventy percent of the money has flowed to
Crossroads.
Details on October fundraising comes Thursday when
candidates, the political parties and super PACs file their final
reports before the election.
USA Today