In the face of the nonsensical national debate over raising the debt ceiling to pay the bills for money we already spent, Republican fundraising is proving to be anemic. And there's a pretty good reason for that.
Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, has released the names of his top money men -- six lobbyists who have helped him raise a combined half a million dollars or $517,450 to be exact.
The sum is only a fraction of the $18 million Romney raked in during the April-to-June fundraising period, which outgunned his closest Republican rival so far, Tim Pawlenty, by a 9-to-1 margin.
Several of the biggest donors listed by the Romney campaign are very telling. The list includes, among others, Patrick J. Durkin, Sr., managing director of Barclay's Capital, who also serves on the board of directors for the Overseas Private Investment, and Drew Maloney, the CEO of Ogilvy Government Relations and a former chief of staff to then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX).
President Obama raised over $86 million during the same time period, compared to Romney's $18 million, from 552,462 individual donors. None of whom are lobbyists.
In comparison, the other Republican presidential candidates don't even rate. Michele Bachmann's campaign raised $4.2 million, Rick Santorum's campaign raised slightly over $500 thousand, and Newt Gingrich's campaign is $1 million in debt.
The currently looming national default fiasco isn't helping Republicans at all in this department. In fact, it's actually hurting them. Conservative columnist and former Bush speechwriter David Frum opins:
Isn’t it conceivable that Obama’s real end-game in these budget talks is to destroy Republican presidential fundraising for 2012 by goading congressional Republicans in 2011 into appearing maximally reckless and irresponsible?
If so, you have to say: the plan’s working brilliantly.
Mister Frum is only half right. The debt-ceiling talks are making the Republicans appear to be maximally reckless and irresponsible, but President Obama doesn't have to lift a finger to make them look like fanatics.
Nearly every Republican presidential candidate has either said they would absolutely not raise the debt ceiling, or that they would require some form of balanced budget amendment or major deficit-ballooning tax-cuts to accompany it. This places the Republican party far outside of the mainstream of their own conservative voting base, of which 74% believe we need revenue increases, and now outside of the mainstream of the business community.
If you're a business professional who actually cares about your own future or the future of your business, you're not going to donate to someone who is threatening to destroy that future. And at this point even they are having second thoughts about supporting a Republican presidential candidate no matter who that candidate is because, as recent events have shown, Republican leadership has very little control over the Tea Party fanatics currently occupying congress.
The ironic thing, of course, is that the Tea Party is the Frankenstein's monster of the business community which has now turned on its master. And while being handed a fresh new tax-cut sounds nice, there are far worse fates than not receiving one -- such as being eaten by your own creation.