Giuliani leads third-quarter cash haul as race intensifies

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani led his Republican presidential rivals in third-quarter fundraising, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney boasted the next-highest total, not including the $8.5 million he loaned his campaign.

{mosads}Former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) nearly tied Romney in receipts, announcing Thursday he had raised $9.3 million for the quarter and $12.7 million since June. Thompson’s campaign said it has about $7 million cash on hand, putting it on a par with the more established Republican candidates.

The Republican candidates made their third-quarter receipts public Thursday as Romney and Giuliani waged a war over who holds the better economic record on the eve of their address to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s Defending the American Dream summit.

Giuliani’s campaign announced he raised $11 million for the quarter but has $16 million cash on hand. Romney reported an $18 million quarter, which includes his third personal contribution of the cycle. Without the most recent loan, the former governor would have had less than $1 million in cash due to his record-breaking advertising purchases.

All told, Romney has helped his campaign continue its aggressive advertising strategy with about $17.5 million from his wallet this year.

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) bounced back somewhat from a troublesome second quarter by reporting he had raised $6 million, with $3.6 million in cash. The senator is carrying about $1.5 million in debt, but a campaign aide said the campaign was able to retire about $2 million in debt over the quarter.

The aide added that the campaign remains undecided about whether to request public matching funds.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee reported raising about $1 million for the quarter, while insurgent Libertarian candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) will post more than $5 million.

The Republican candidates were slower to release their figures than their Democratic counterparts. The Democrats, behind the strength of Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (N.Y.) third-quarter numbers, once again trounced their would-be rivals.

For Romney and Giuliani, announcing fundraising tallies was a small part of Thursday’s fireworks as the two campaigns went round after round on economic issues.

Romney’s launched a series of attacks on Giuliani on fiscal matters, and the two campaigns spent the day taking turns issuing press releases.

“What we have here is a fundamental disagreement over tax policies affecting American families,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement.

“Mayor Giuliani crusaded against the line-item veto and fought very hard to keep a commuter tax burden on hardworking taxpayers. Gov. Romney strongly disagrees with Mayor Giuliani on those issues, since the line-item veto helps reduce wasteful spending and families ought to be protected from higher tax burdens, instead of having their mayor file lawsuits in court in an effort to keep them.”

Giuliani’s campaign held a conference call for reporters with former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci (R), who accused Romney of desperation for hitting Giuliani for opposing giving the president line-item veto power. Cellucci also attacked Romney for failing to cut taxes as governor.

“I think this appears to be some desperation as the polls close, and … the margin that Mitt had certainly narrows, particularly versus Mayor Giuliani,” Cellucci said.

Giuliani’s campaign also sent out a release that read: “Giuliani’s New York City vs. Romney’s Massachusetts: By every measure, Giuliani is the real fiscal conservative.”

The flurry of volleys came just before Friday’s Defending the American Dream summit. The host group, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (APF), is committed to lowering taxes and reining in government spending, according to the group’s president, Tim Phillips.

Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, Huckabee, Paul and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) are scheduled to address the group. McCain was scheduled to meet with its members Thursday night.

In an interview with The Hill on Thursday, Phillips said the 1,500 members of APF would listen intently to all the candidates, but he hopes the candidates, in turn, will take notice of how serious the members are about fiscal issues.

“We want to hear from them that they’re serious about spending reform,” Phillips said. “That it’s not just rhetoric.”

Phillips said the candidates should always be aware that while the members are happy to host the candidates, they will be watching closely if they are elected.

“It’s nice to be the prom queen, but we really want for the day after the prom to make sure they’re keeping their promises,” Phillips said.

Aaron Blake contributed to this story.