Romney tops GOP hopefuls in fund-raising

BOSTON - Mitt Romney blew away the top-ranked Republican presidential candidates in fund-raising, while one-time GOP front-runner John McCain reported just over half Romney's $23 million haul.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has amassed a sizable lead in national popularity polls of GOP candidates, reported raising $15 million - more than McCain, but still considerably behind Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor's first-quarter tally put him on a financial par with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the leading Democratic candidate. On Sunday, she reported raising $26 million.

One of Clinton's principal rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, has not yet released his figures, but aides said yesterday he had collected more than $20 million in donations in the first three months of the campaign, according to the New York Times.

For Romney, the surge in fund-raising was a big boost. "People are having a positive reaction to him and are willing to open up a vein for him," said David King, of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

McCain's $12.5 million appeared to be another sign the Arizona senator's campaign is flagging.

"For McCain, it looks like he's made campaign finance reform work," King said. "Everyone knew he didn't like the role of money in politics, but one would have hoped he would have liked the role of money in his own campaign. He's now coming to this race a day late and $12 million short."

One other GOP contender, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a favorite of social conservatives, reported raising over $1.9 million, including a $575,000 transfer from his Senate campaign account.

The disparity had the potential to winnow the field and trigger a reshuffling among the top tier of candidates. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, had previously trailed not only Giuliani and McCain, but also former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson in some national popularity polls of Republican voters. Thompson has yet to declare his candidacy.

Romney worked assiduously to alter the financial lineup, scheduling more than 20 events during the 31 days of March.

Giuliani, meanwhile, reported raising nearly $17 million since forming his presidential exploratory committee in November. He also had $11 million cash on hand as of Saturday.

Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager, said the campaign was thrilled with the total, despite what he called a "late start" to fund-raising. Yet he held his first major fund-raiser in December, while other top rivals didn't do so until January or later.

McCain tried to lower expectation last week, saying he didn't like to raise money, had gotten off to a late start and was "going to pay a price for it." Republicans in Washington have privately said that McCain's rate of spending has been alarming.

All of the money Romney raised was for the primary election campaign. For Giuliani, all but $100,000 of the money raised was for a primary campaign.

The Clinton campaign has been simultaneously raising money for a potential general election campaign, but it has refused to reveal how much of the first-quarter tally could be spent only in the event she emerges as her party's nominee.