Thursday, February 08, 2007

Giuliani's early $3 million dwarfs GOP rivals

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani began the year with over $3 million available to spend on a presidential campaign, more than six times the amount his closest GOP rival had available at the same point.

The Ticker had previously reported that Giuliani had saved at least $1 million in cash for his presidential exploratory committee by the start of the year, but a new report made available this week by the Federal Election Commission shows that the former New York City mayor had another $2 million stored in an account originally created for his aborted 2000 Senate campaign. Under federal law, Giuliani may transfer this entire amount to a presidential campaign.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona posted the second-largest warchest of the GOP presidential field, with a combined $492,000 saved in his presidential exploratory committee and his senate campaign account.

Giuliani filed a Statement of Candidacy with the FEC last week and publicly stated that he intends to seek the Republican presidential nomination.

The next fundraising milestone will be in April, when presidential candidates will report their fundraising from the first three months of the year.

Combined federal cash-on-hand for 2008 Republicans:

Republicans:
Rudy Giuliani (R-New York): $3,108,524.41 (Presidential and Senate cmtes.)
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona): $492,487.30 (Presidential and Senate cmtes.)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado): $189,092.12 (House cmte. only)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California): $53,379.37 (House cmte. only)
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas): $41,758.84 (Senate cmte. only)
Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts): $20,159.89 (Senate cmte. only)
Tommy Thompson (R-Wisconsin) $500.00 (Presidential cmte only)

NOTE: No presidential reports were required from Jim Gilmore, Hunter, Romney, and Tancredo because their presidential committees were created in 2007.