Romney Blows Away Competition in Local GOP Money Race

Romney may be the man in GOP money circles  statewide but the Republican party’s nine presidential candidates still raised less overall than the eight Democrats.Among the GOP’s presidential candidates, Mitt Romney remains the clear favorite with local donors. Romney racked up about 37 percent more Colorado cash in the third quarter than his nearest competitor, Rudy Giuliani.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Romney raised $197,813 in the state in the third quarter, bringing his total for this election cycle to $579,488, while Giuliani raised $144,725, to make his total for the year $428,336.

The nine Republican candidates who filed FEC reports raised a total $497,661, which lagged well behind the total for the eight Democratic candidates, who raised $716,903.

Giuliani and Romney sustained their Colorado fundraising for the third quarter at about the same rate. Each raised about 34 percent of what they’d raised in the second quarter.

In all, Republican candidates have raised about $1.7 million in Colorado during this cycle, compared with $2.4 million for Democrats.

The overall pace of fundraising in the third quarter — the percentage of the total that was raised in that period — was virtually identical between Republicans and Democrats.

The chart below shows the Republican totals for the quarter, the year to date, and the percentage of the year-to-date total that they raised in the third quarter: