Ron Paul Still Outraising Romney in at Least 10 States

The Texas Congressman makes large donor fundraising gains in a dozen states on the presumptive GOP nominee in Q1 2012

While all is seemingly quiet on the Republican primary front – with Mitt Romney simply playing a waiting game before he officially nets the 1,144 delegates required to proclaim himself the GOP presidential nominee – the Ron Paul campaign continues to make the occasional wave.

Last weekend Paul supporters captured the vast majority of delegates selected at the congressional district conventions held across the State of Minnesota.

And yet, despite Paul never winning even a plurality of a state’s primary or caucus vote count, the Texas U.S. Representative amassed not only the second largest GOP war chest but also an outright lead over Romney in receipts collected from at least 10 states across the country.

A Smart Politics review of FEC fundraising totals through Q1 2012 finds Ron Paul leads Mitt Romney in large donor itemized fundraising in 10 states, representing all four geographical regions from the northeast (Maine), the South (Arkansas), the Midwest (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin), and the West (Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico).

Of course, Romney leads the field in donations by wide margins across most of the big ticket states like California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, and Virginia. (Rick Perry still leads the field in Texas and Rick Santorum overtook Romney in Pennsylvania).

Still, many of the states in which Romney trails Paul and has yet to flex his customary fundraising muscle will be key battleground states in the general election: Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin.

Congressman Paul lost his fundraising advantage against Romney in the states of Delaware and Montana since the end of 2011, but he overtook the former Massachusetts governor in Maine and Wisconsin over the last three months to maintain his advantage in 10 states against the GOP frontrunner.

Six of these 10 states are caucus states (Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota), where Paul hinted ever since his third place finish in Iowa that he would ultimately come away with the most delegates.

“The delegates haven’t even been appointed in Iowa yet. I mean, quite frankly, we have a pretty good chance of getting a good sum of those because of the organization. We only had a straw vote. I mean, this argument on who won, it was a straw vote. I mean, the delegates is what counts.” – Ron Paul (January 23, 2012, NBC News / National Journal debate in Tampa, Florida)

That appears to be the case in Minnesota.

Paul actually raised more large donor itemized money than Romney in a dozen states across the country in the first quarter of the year including seven Midwestern states: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Paul increased his fundraising advantage or cut into Romney’s lead in Alabama (gaining $19,954 on Romney), Arkansas ($7,608), Hawaii ($10,377), Iowa ($41,308), Kansas ($15,603), Maine ($21,026), Minnesota ($28,135), Nebraska ($7,931), New Mexico ($7,224), North Dakota ($11,051), South Dakota ($4,450), and Wisconsin ($31,219).

In truth, Congressman Paul has likely outraised Romney in several other states if all contributions (large donor plus small donor) could be calculated, however only large contributions require the reporting of such geographic donor information.

For while Romney has raised 88.6 percent of his $85.6 million in individual income from large donors ($75.8 million), Paul has raised just 53.9 percent of his $35.7 million from this group ($19.2 million).

That means an additional $16.4 million haul in small donor money to the Paul campaign is not included in the data listed above compared to just $9.7 million in small donor funds to Romney.

Paul very narrowly trails Romney in the fundraising game in Vermont ($4,762), Delaware ($9,807), and Montana ($16,042).

Overall, Romney has raised the most money in 36 states plus the District of Columbia, followed by Paul with nine, Rick Perry with three (OK, TX, WV), and Tim Pawlenty (MN) and Rick Santorum (PA) with one each.

Through March, Paul eclipsed his total fundraising for the entire 2008 cycle (a cycle in which he did not withdraw until June 12th) by more than $2 million.

Itemized Individual Contributions Received by Mitt Romney and Ron Paul Through Q1 2012

State	Romney	Paul	Romney-Paul quarter change*
Alabama	$443,041	$208,956	$114,460
Alaska	$74,625	$120,352	-$19,954
Arizona	$1,707,778	$506,529	$404,447
Arkansas	$79,695	$108,945	-$7,608
California	$10,068,963	$2,552,774	$2,444,794
Colorado	$1,323,375	$434,742	$393,292
Connecticut	$3,200,957	$252,978	$1,009,622
D.C.	$889,285	$40,308	$359,832
Delaware	$59,596	$49,789	$10,069
Florida	$7,409,392	$1,232,453	$2,388,451
Georgia	$1,723,053	$455,378	$397,335
Hawaii	$97,352	$110,712	-$10,377
Idaho	$732,285	$154,575	$254,360
Illinois	$3,009,078	$581,561	$862,269
Indiana	$440,591	$296,131	$51,018
Iowa	$168,555	$256,255	-41,308
Kansas	$137,596	$164,806	-$15,603
Kentucky	$458,977	$171,670	$53,192
Louisiana	$853,303	$248,192	$410,821
Maine	$96,115	$101,686	-$21,026
Maryland	$1,347,764	$351,328	$308,078
Massachusetts	$4,363,504	$342,907	$916,394
Michigan	$2,150,688	$457,027	$340,210
Minnesota	$230,553	$295,464	-$28,135
Mississippi	$264,601	$138,386	$26,571
Missouri	$1,170,838	$284,815	$6,539
Montana	$136,823	$120,781	$33,113
Nebraska	$141,369	$88,582	-$7,931
Nevada	$532,956	$353,436	$36,932
New Hampshire	$372,081	$234,736	$4,944
New Jersey	$3,039,705	$428,999	$538,989
New Mexico	$105,264	$132,612	-$7,224
New York	$9,222,183	$925,135	$2,041,298
North Carolina	$796,746	$452,538	$266,261
North Dakota	$19,664	$64,268	-$11,051
Ohio	$1,670,034	$498,593	$901,669
Oklahoma	$307,792	$197,682	$20,705
Oregon	$474,214	$297,130	$14,485
Pennsylvania	$1,267,652	$659,855	$96,446
Rhode Island	$173,035	$53,886	$28,110
South Carolina	$313,217	$228,309	$36,088
South Dakota	$127,795	$38,817	-$4,450
Tennessee	$1,311,866	$335,224	$282,887
Texas	$5,175,382	$2,309,320	$1,362,947
Utah	$3,454,570	$186,117	$1,036,291
Vermont	$50,448	$45,686	$1,935
Virginia	$3,016,336	$597,478	$786,017
Washington	$1,143,803	$629,855	$287,849
West Virginia	$98,909	$72,683	$4,715
Wisconsin	$212,322	$239,222	-$31,219
Wyoming	$204,072	$101,016	$13,362

* Far right column denotes the gain or loss in funds by Mitt Romney in Q1 2012 vis-à-vis Ron Paul by state. Table compiled with FEC data by Smart Politics.

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