Palin, Romney top recipients of Ohio contributions

What I don't understand is, if she isn't running for President, or any other public office, but is rather a media figure, why in the world are people contributing to her PAC? What is she doing with the money?

Palin, Romney top recipients of Ohio contributions
WASHINGTON - The first votes for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination are still months away, with candidates bowing in and out of the race by the week, but Ohioans already have given nearly a quarter of a million dollars to would-be candidates.

Buckeye State residents have contributed almost $58,000 to former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's SarahPAC and more than $50,000 to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC.

Romney is officially in the race, but Palin has not announced.

"I think Sarah Palin is a true, patriotic American," said Patricia Alderson, 62, a community organizer for charitable giving from the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, who gave Palin's political action committee $2,000 in November 2009.

"She wants to do the right thing, she's a person who speaks from her heart and she reminds me of a woman fighting for her children. Every time she talks, I'm like, 'you go, girl.'"

Thomas Bigwood, 83, a Canal Winchester retiree who has given Romney's political-action committee $1,400 since April 2010, said, "I looked over the whole crop and I said, 'He's the best of the lot.'"

Ohio, long a bellwether, isn't necessarily a must-win for Republican primary candidates. But the enthusiasm a candidate musters in the Buckeye State - including financial contributions - can be indicative of how they'll do in the general elections.

"Ohio's always going to be a focus of presidential elections," said Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, which collects and analyzes data about political fundraising. "If one candidate is doing particularly well there, that could to some degree foreshadow their success later."

Ohio money is important, too. And before presidential candidates launch formal campaigns, they raise money through leadership PACs - political-action committees that politicians use for indirect sponsoring of a candidacy, including travel, political consulting fees or polling. Levinthal calls those PACs a barometer of early support.

Later, Ohio can be expected to be a significant donor to campaign coffers.

In 2008, Ohio was the 16th-highest state for presidential campaign donations, giving nearly $16 million to the campaigns.

Of that, more than $8.1million went to Republican candidates and more than $7.6 million went to Democrats from the primary through the general election, according to an analysis of financial contributions by the nonprofit center.

That year, Cincinnati led all Ohio metropolitan areas in donations, giving a total of $5.1 million to presidential candidates through the general election. Cleveland donated $4.1 million and Columbus $2.7 million, the center found.

This year, the early Ohio money is going largely to Palin and Romney.

Nationally , Palin's PAC has garnered $5.7 million and spent $4.4 million as of the end of last year. Romney's has garnered $9.1 million and spent $8.7 million, the center calculated.

Both Palin and Romney file quarterly, but, under Federal Election Commission rules, are not required to file until July in 2011, a nonelection year. President Barack Obama, who declared his candidacy for re-election earlier this year, also will file fundraising reports in July, Levinthal said.

Former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell said the early support reflects which candidates are investing the most time in Ohio. Palin has held fundraisers for Right to Life in the Cleveland area and Columbus, he said.

"She gave of her time and she gave of her treasure," he said. "And people are still talking about it."

He said Romney has ties to more "establishment money" and fared well in fundraising in 2008.

Cincinnati, which was a heavy early donor to Romney's primary campaign in 2008, is showing more support for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty so far this cycle. Of the 53 individual donations to Pawlenty's PAC, more than 40 came from ZIP codes within Cincinnati. Of the 70 individual donations to Romney's PAC, 20 were from Cincinnati. Some donors gave multiple donations.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who, like Pawlenty, has announced his candidacy, also has done well: Ohio donors gave his PAC $24,901 so far this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

John Green, head of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, said one factor that might affect GOP candidate fundraising in Ohio this year is a later primary season. The first primaries next year are tentatively set for February, as opposed to January in 2008. Ohio is considering moving its presidential primary back to May. The later schedule, he said, is causing the race to shake out a little more slowly than usual.

"Usually by this time in a presidential cycle there are a lot of declared candidates and people engaging in what some scholars call 'the invisible primary,' where they raise a lot of money to impress each other and the Republican leadership," he said. "It's just started very slowly this time."