Romney Officially Makes Himself a Contender

Mitt Romney's fund raising totals almost equaled Hillary Clinton's. That's quite a feat considering her name recognition and the fact that she's got herself and a former US President to help raise money for her. Mitt's total ended up at around $25 million according to Mass live.

BOSTON (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney reported raising $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year, shaking up the GOP field and rivaling the total reported a day earlier by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Meanwhile, the Republican front-runner in the polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his donations totaled $15 million — including more than $10 million raised during March alone.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a longshot GOP candidate, lagged far behind the two Republican money leaders, raising over $1.9 million, including a $575,000 transfer from his Senate campaign account.

Both the Romney and Giuliani totals blew away past party presidential fundraising standards, while Romney's figure put the former Massachusetts governor in competition with Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. The New York senator on Sunday reported raising $26 million between Jan. 1 and March 31.

"Facing opponents in an extremely competitive fundraising field who enjoy universal name identification and the clear advantage of existing networks of contributors, Gov. Romney's fundraising totals are indicative of the extraordinary success the campaign has had at building an organization and stirring excitement among grassroots activists responding to his message," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.

Rudy Giuliani did well for himself as well, raising near $15 million. Not too bad for the first quarter. We'll see how this stuff pans out, but it's obvious Mitt can talk the pants off a preacher.