Bachmann’s Fundraising Juggernaut

With all the hype surrounding Sarah Palin’s recent fundraising haul, few are noticing the real fundraising giant in the GOP: Michele Bachmann.

Despite all the hype surrounding Sarah Palin’s recent fundraising haul, few are noticing the real fundraising giant in the Republican Party: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Monday’s news that Sarah PAC raised more than $865,000 in the second quarter was enough to send the blogosphere into a tizzy about whether Palin would run for President in 2012.

But let’s put the numbers into some context. Despite having all the time in the world to raise money for her PAC, Palin was outraised by Mitt Romney in March and April alone (Romney’s Freedom PAC hasn’t submitted their formal FEC filings yet – the deadline is on Thursday).

And Michele Bachmann raised $1.7 million in the last quarter, more than the erstwhile Republican vice-presidential candidate, even though she had to balance fundraising with her congressional duties and her campaign for reelection. More importantly, Bachmann’s contributors were limited by FEC regulations to a maximum of $2,400, while Palin’s contributors were each allowed to donate up to $5,000 to her PAC.

Bachmann is raising spectacular amounts of money. So the question should be: why isn’t Palin, a national figure with more media coverage than Bachmann, at least keeping pace?