The Star Ledger Reports: The early New Jersey returns on the presidential sweepstakes show Republican candidates neck-and-neck with President Obama in the battle for campaign cash.
New Jersey donors who have favored Democrats over Republicans by wide margins for decades have thus far chipped in $1,219,329 to the president’s re-election campaign, and $1,154,600 to the Republican presidential candidates, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has raised $702,996 of the total collected by Republicans as of Sept. 30, more than half of it from bankers. And that was before Gov. Chris Christie announced he wouldn’t run for president and then endorsed Romney, a move expected to bring him more Jersey cash.
At this point in the last election cycle, a Democratic field including Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton had raised $2 million more than Republicans, the records show.
“There has been disenchantment on Wall Street with the president’s policies, and a lot of those bankers live in New Jersey, especially the North Jersey suburbs,” said Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College and the Brookings Institution. “And part of it is (Obama) hasn’t been doing the aggressive fundraising in New Jersey yet that we’re likely to see when we’re early into next year.”
Republicans said many GOP contributors remained on the sidelines until Christie ruled out a presidential run early last month. The financial impact of the governor’s decision to sit out the race and endorse Romney won’t be known until January, when new federal reports are released.
But Romney was already getting a warmer reception in New Jersey than he did when he sought the GOP nomination four years ago. He’s easily surpassed the $600,000 he got from New Jerseyans during the entire 2008 campaign.
“Governor Romney has a strong network of supporters in New Jersey, some of it left over from the last campaign and some who see he’s pro-job-, pro-growth-plans, and have jumped on board,” said Ryan Williams, a spokesman for the Romney campaign.
Among Republicans, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is running a distant second, raising $161,994 in New Jersey through a large grassroots network, records show. The only other candidate to crack six figures was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who took in $105,945.
