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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

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Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Romney writes himself a big check

Posted: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 2:17 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:

From NBC's Chuck Todd

According to a campaign source, Romney will report raising $20 million-plus for the second quarter. But approximately $6 million of that amount is from Romney himself. So the REAL number will be $14 million-plus raised.

In total, Romney has given more than $8 million to his own campaign to date. A formal release of these numbers is expected later this afternoon.

*** Update*** Here are more details on Romney's 2ndQ haul, per his campaign:
-- $14 million in primary contributions
-- a $6.5 million loan from Romney
-- a total of $43.9 million raised in the first six months (including Romney's loans to his campaign)
-- cash on hand is $12 million, which means that Team Romney has spent nearly $32 million dollars so far. Wow.

*** Another Update *** The Romney camp reports 50,000 new donors since the first quarter.

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Comments

$14 million is still a respectable figure. And his cash on hand numbers ought to look okay because of the $6 million he contributed - though I'd be interested to see what he's spent airing those ads. In terms of cash, I'm guessing he'll remain the frontrunner. Has anyone heard anything from Guiliani? And of course the unknown is Thompson. Here's the beauty of his delayed start and announcement - he is legally set up for fundraising, but if his initial figures aren't great he can hide behind the "I'm not really in yet" excuse.
Paul, check our update in the post. COH is $12 million, meaning he's spent $32 million in the first six months.
If Romney gets elected, maybe he can pay off our national debt!!
it's kind of ironic. mccain and romney both rail dems for being bad stewards of taxpayers money, but these two guys have spent the most money on the campaign so far.  what does that tell you?
Just what we need, a representative of the common American people. Romney would be a complete change from Bush, he is a common man where as GWB was born and has lived his life in privilege. Mitt can understand the struggles of the poor and middle class as he is just a poor millionaire struggling to get by. He is also conservative with his money, has spent a miserly $32 million, bet he would be just as frugal with the taxpayers money.......GAG, COUGH, GAG, COUGH, CHOKE, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
32 million spent on what, varmit guns and dog kennels?  That's an insane amount.
Scott, fundraising via mail is expensive. The net is often something like 50 cents on the dollar, in successful fundraising campaigns. So let's take away half of Romney's $46 million for fundraising; he nets $23. He's spent something like $11 million on his ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire and campaign overhead (staff, contracted pollsters, headquarters).

If I was a Romney supporter, I'd prefer a slower burn rate. But this isn't terrible - like McCain's! And he did get some bang for those bucks he spent in Iowa and New Hampshire.

I should have thought of this yesterday when I was asking Mark the significance of Obama's internet fundraising. There the net is much higher. The collection pass through (Paypall, or whoever) takes a percentage, but its not much.
Romney raises $14 million...McCain $11 million. For Romney that's good? For McCain that's bad? I just don't get the numbers...or the press for that matter. Who's running the McCain campaign? Surely the McCain camp could have spun this into something good. Instead they report layoffs and cash on hand the same day they report their $11 million haul. Is this guy trying to lose?
my point is that they are going through money faster than any other candidate (even obama and clinton who have much more money) and they still have the balls to critcize dems for high spending. seems to be a bit hypocritical. that's just me though.
Scott, have you seen numbers for what Obama and Clinton have in the warchest? I've been waiting for those. To be honest, I have no idea about either campaign's burn rate.
The last thing we need is another flag-waving, piety-preaching, war-loving, born-to-privilege, God-is-on-my-side "man of faith" running our country.  Romney can loan $100 million to his campaign and it won't matter -- the American people will see thru his con artist routine and he'll go down to defeat.    
the major issue that needs to be asked about romney is not his political views or his suspect religous issues, lets get to the meat of the serious concerns, how much did he pay for his hair-cut?
He gets it from "himself", where does "he" get it?  Contributions, bribes, extortion money, and suitcases packed full of bills from Teheran, Iran. Mass., the only state where gay marriage is legal, is thoroughly corrupt. They pass out briefcases full of bills to police officers not to arrest the favored parties and to discriminate against the downtrodden.

Munny can't buy me luv!
As dog supplies related topics continue to gain in popularity, there will be more locations to learn more about this pressing subject.


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