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Ron Paul Still Outraising Romney in at Least 10 States

By Eric Ostermeier on April 24, 2012

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.