Reporting from Washington —
The numbers are in -- and Mitt Romney won, but not by a landslide.
When it came to fund-raising in February, the former Massachusetts governor stayed ahead of his GOP presidential rivals. Romney raised $11.5 million and spent $12.4 million, dramatically slowing down his burn rate from January, when his campaign spent three times more than it raised. Heading into March, he had $7.3 million in the bank.
Rick Santorum got $8.9 million in contributions and spent $7.8 million, ending the month with $2.6 million on hand, along with $922,000 in debt. Texas Rep. Ron Paul brought in $3.3 million, spent $3.5 million and ended the month with $1.4 million. Gingrich raised just $2.6 million in February and spent $2.8 million, leaving him with $1.54 million in cash and $1.55 million in debt.
Meanwhile, President Obama raised $23.1 million in February for his reelection, out of a total monthly haul of $45 million that his campaign, the Democratic National Committee and two fund-raising committees brought in. His campaign spent $15.9 million and ended the month with nearly $85 million in the bank.
In all, Obama has raised a total of $163.2 million for his reelection campaign. At this point in the 2008 race -– when Obama was still fighting to win the Democratic nomination -– his campaign had pulled in $193.7 million.
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Romney beats GOP candidates in February fundraising, Obama tops all
