Romney's Fast Break

Mitt Romney believes presidential fights are fought early, and he has a plan to win.

He set up camp with political action committees in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Alabama, which all have early Republican contests.  Any of these states could prove a firewall, blocking Romney or his rival John McCain from the White House.  Romney has one clear advantage:  In a twisted irony that could fast pull his foe out of the race, McCain wrote the legislation that bans the soft-money gifts Romney is banking on.  As a governor, the McCain-Feingold Act doesn't police a governor like Romney. Through unregulated state political action committees in Michigan and Iowa, he can take unlimited contributions from donors across the country. And take he does.  He can spend this cash wherever he wants, too, as long as he observes laws of that state.  After pushing famously for the campaign reform package that bears his name, McCain, as a federal officeholder, can't accept more than a piddling $5000.

Although he uses his national political action committee to give to federal candidates across the country, Romney also uses his state committees to spread influence nationally.  He has given to the GOP office in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and the governor's race in Des Moines, Iowa.  All the while, his favor-bank gifts help rid himself of his home state's liberal reputation.

Romney will finish his one term as the Governor of
Massachusetts in January.  It is the only political office he has ever held, although his father, George, was Governor of Michigan. Mitt founded Bain Capital, a multimillion dollar venture capital in Massachusetts, and is a devout Mormon. He ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

This fall, Romney did not even have to give away his own money to fill the coffers of Republicans in key primary states. As president of the Republican Governors Association, a soft-money war chest, Romney doled out loot to Republican gubernatorial candidates at dozens of public events, including millions in Florida and Michigan and a $500,000 in Iowa.

Meanwhile, Romney's national committee raised $2.4 million this year and gave away $1.6 million. At the state level, he has $2.9 million that he can distribute county-by-county.

"If we know that one PAC needs some additional funds more than another and folks call in ask where we can help most we direct them to that state," said Jared Young, Commonwealth PAC communications director. "The purpose of these PACs is to help as many GOP candidates and state parties as possible."

Romney's record of success with the Winter Olympics and his connection as a Mormon will help him in Utah. He has appeared on the stump with evangelicals in Tennessee, West Virginia, California and Arizona. Groups supporting Romney have popped up on the Internet in at least 26 states. But Romney knows he will not have a chance anywhere without first succeeding in the cornfields of the Midwest.

Iowa Commonwealth Pac- $1,593,547

Taking full advantage of his soft-money strategy in Iowa this year, Romney has brought in more money through his state committee than any other political group in the state. As president of the Republican Governors Association, he has raised another $1,001,000.

“He’s got a tough job to do. His views are not part of the majority of those who participate in the Iowa caucuses,” said Michael L. Mezey, a political science professor at DePaul University in Chicago, pointing out his ambiguous stance on abortion among pro-life voters. “If he can come in second or third he lives to fight in New Hampshire, which is closer to his home ground.”

Most of his money is coming from big donors. This year, twenty-one of Romney’s out-of-state supporters gave $436,032 between July and September. Peter Karmanos, of Compuware Corporation, sent a $108,000 check to Iowa in June; Sam Fox, Chairman of the Jewish Republican Committee, gave Romney $100,000 in July; Stephen Schwartzman, head of Blackstone Group, sent the Iowa committee a $45,000 check in July; John Kaneb, C.E.O. of Gulf Oil, donated $36,500; and Boston attorney Darlene Jordan gave $50,000 in August.

Appealing to big-business types, Romney likes to bill himself as C.E.O. of Massachusetts in his stump speeches. He closed a $3 million budget deficit his first year in office and later established mandatory health care. He has fought bitterly with the state legislature over same-sex marriage, which was legally approved in 2004, and has made Massachusetts the butt of his jokes on the campaign path.

Romney has hired the Iowa’s House Speaker, Christopher Rants, as a top advisor for his state committee. Rants’s staunch conservatism is an asset.

 “He has got to do something, because clearly the anti-choice people are not going to go away in the Republican Party,” Mezey said. “There will be people on the right that have stronger conservative credentials. He has to be able to out-conservative them. Once you are out of New Hampshire and Iowa he can become the so-called moderate option.”

Romney knows he needs to solidify the support of Iowa conservatives and so curried the support of Rep. Jim Nussle, the Republican candidate for governor. Through the Republican Governors Association, which is not regulated by any contribution limits, Romney gave Nussle $500,000. Then he kicked in another $70,000 from his own state committee. Romney also made dozens of $1,000 donations and a few gifts of $10,000 to candidates for the state legislature. And on September 20, he handed out fifty checks ranging from $250 to $1,000 to dozens of Republican Party county committees.

 In Michigan, Romney has powerful name recognition. His legacy in the state has helped him rope in seven major Bush fundraisers; heavy-hitting Rangers and Pioneers like John Rakolta, Jr., Ed Levy, Jr., and J.C. Huizenga were all appointed to Romney’s 75-member steering committee, which Romney chose to help decide where money goes in the state. His committee in this state is especially useful to him, because it allows for no-limit, soft-money donations.

Romney’s strategy of working with proven fundraisers has already paid off. First, Rakolta, head of Waldridge Aldinger, one of the biggest construction firms in the country, gave $40,750 to Romney’s state committee on April 20. Six weeks later, Aldinger's neighbor Robert Taubman, head of Taubman Company, committed $43,250 to Romney’s state committee. Both men live adjacent to the Bloomfield Hills Country Club. The same day, Ilija Letica, who lives four miles down the road by Island Lake, ponied up another $43,250.

But some donors work both sides of the divide. Romney’s biggest contributor, Peter Karmanos, who has also helped out big in Iowa, heads Compuware, which holds public computer contracts. Although he dropped $108,125 into Romney’s state committee in Michigan in June, he gave another $100,000 to Kwame Kilpatrick, the Democratic Mayor of Detroit, last October. He also is a major contributor to Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic Governor of Michigan.

Alabama - $277,600

If Romney survives Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, donations will most likely pour in as the field of candidates narrows. But Romney is wasting no time and has already begun bestowing favors in Alabama.

Top recipients in October included House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard with $15,000, Luther Strange with $7,000 and and $12,000 to the State Republican Party. The donations were allowed under the state committee rules, but would not have been allowed had they come from the national committee.

by Dorian Block and Ethan Wilensky-Lanford