I was listening to a story this morning about money raised in the 2nd quarter of 2011 by GOP Presidential Candidates, and realized they mentioned Romney, Pawlenty, Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich and Santorum, but not Ron Paul. If I learned anything in the 2008 campaign, it is that Ron Paul’s ability to raise money is astounding, so I went in search of his 2nd quarter numbers for 2011. Turns out Ron Paul raised the 2nd most amount of money $4.5 million – considerably short of Mitt Romney’s $18 million. Surprisingly, none of Romney’s $18 million was self-financed. Paul, Romney, and Santorum were the only candidates not reporting debt in the 2nd quarter. Michelle Bachmann raised $3.6 million, but $2 million of that was a transfer of money from her congressional campaign funds.
Stop by OpenSecrets for a nice rundown of all the 2011 2nd quarter fundraising (including Newt Gingrich’s campaign debt). This look at campaign money made me wonder what the 2nd quarter in 2007 looked like:
GOP Presidential Candidates 2nd Quarter 2007
| Candidate | Money Raised |
|---|---|
| Rudy Giuliani | $17,599,292 |
| Mitt Romney | $14,275,263 |
| John McCain | $11,591,044 |
| Ron Paul | $2,369,453 |
| Tom Tancredo | $1,466,188 |
| Mike Huckabee | $765,873 |
| Sam Brownback | $1,425,767 |
| Duncan Hunter | $814,417 |
| Tommy Thompson | $461,555 |
Obviously, money raised in the second quarter of the year before an election, was not a good predictor of victory!
I, like many conservatives have not selected a candidate for this presidential election. Of those currently running, Ron Paul continues to move to the top of my list because of his integrity, commitment to the protection of life for the born and the unborn, his fiscal responsibility, and his staunch support for the rights of parents to homeschool. I hope I can make a final decision about a candidate soon.
There is one candidate I have decided to support – former US Congressman Pete Hoekstra announced this week that he is running against Debbie Stabenow for her US Senate seat. Michigan has had two liberal senators for far too long, and Pete Hoekstra may just be the best chance Michigan has to finally gain a conservative senator. Stabenow has been senator since 2001, and Carl Levin since 1979. Levin is so entrenched in Detroit politics, he is very hard to beat, but Stabenow is vulnerable, and Hoekstra is the right conservative for the job.
Stay cool today everybody … 59 degrees here this morning!
OneMom
I think our low was 82. Grr! Argh!