Below The Beltway

Given the success of November 5th and December 16th money bombs, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Ron Paul raised more money than any of the other Republican candidates in the last quarter of 2007:

Rep. Ron Paul, the 72-year-old Texan who hardly ever gets mentioned in Republican political news and the one-time libertarian who always gets the least time on TV debates if he isn’t barred completely, was, in fact, the most successful Republican fundraiser in the last three months of 2007.

By a Texas mile.

By the thousands Paul’s fervent followers donated $19.95 million to the “Ron Paul Revolution.” He spent $17.75 million and at year’s end had $7.8 million cash on hand, making him the only Republican candidate to increase his fundraising totals in every quarter of 2007. According to his website, Paul’s Paulunteers have contributed another $4.1 million this month to fuel the strict constitutionalist’s travels and advertising campaign.

And the other candidates ?

Rudy Giuliani,….raised only $14.4 million from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 and spent $18.2 million.

Fred Thompson….who collected $8.9 million and spent $13.9 million.

Republican frontrunner Sen. John McCain…..raked in only $9.9 million, spent $10.5 million and had only $2.9 million cash in hand.

Mitt Romney actually raised only $9.2 million from other people last quarter, less than half of Paul’s haul. However, the former Massachusetts governor — and if he keeps spending at this rate the quite possibly former multimillionaire — gave himself $18 million more of his own money last fall for a total of $27.2 million and $2.4 million cash on hand.

The former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who’s had trouble raising money, issued an unusual statement Thursday night. “My presidential campaign,” he said, “has defied the odds and will continue to do so, as we head into the Super Tuesday primaries, proving the power of of message over money and mechanics.”

So a certain suspicious blogger, lead by the experienced hand of The Times’ campaign finance expert Dan Morain, went to the website of the Federal Election Commission and looked up Huckabee’s fourth quarter report. It seems he raised about $6.7 million, a third of Paul’s sum, while spending $7.08 million, leaving him on New Year’s Eve with cash on hand of only $651,300.68. No wonder he didn’t mention numbers in the news release.

Now, truth be told, Ron Paul’s fundraising success hasn’t translated into votes or wins, and it doesn’t seem like it will anytime soon. Moreover, since January 1st, it’s fairly clear that fundraising has dried up considerably. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day money bomb pulled in only about $ 2 million and today’s event, tied to the Congressman’s wedding anniversary, seems to be off to a slow start.

The other thing that’s surprising, to some degree, is the amount of money that was spent in the 4th Quarter, especially since they didn’t seem to be doing much of anything back then.