GOP Candidates' Fundraising Starts Slowly

The New York Times reports:

Fund-raising by the Republican presidential candidates appears to be off to a slow start this year, hindered by the struggling economy, the absence of a clear and compelling front-runner, and the desire of many of the party’s biggest donors to wait and see how the race develops.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has assembled the field’s most robust fund-raising operation, will report raising less than $20 million for the Republican primary during the fund-raising period ending on Thursday, an aide said. That would put Mr. Romney just slightly ahead of his own total during the same period four years ago, when he was new to presidential politics and competing against a more crowded and competitive field.

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota will report taking in less than $5 million, said a person close to his campaign, some of which may be earmarked for a future general election campaign and unavailable to Mr. Pawlenty in his battle with other Republican candidates. Even if it were all primary money, that would be far less than any of the first-tier Republican candidates raised during the early stages of the 2008 race, and underscored the difficulty Mr. Pawlenty faces in sustaining a strong challenge to Mr. Romney and the rest of the field.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former American ambassador to China in the Obama administration, entered the race so recently that he is not required to report his second-quarter fund-raising until the fall, one of his campaign aides said. But the aide said Thursday that Mr. Huntsman had raised about $4.1 million for the quarter, though a substantial portion came from his own fortune.