Presidential candidate Mitt Romney predicted Monday he will raise less money this quarter than Republican rivals John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, though he admitted he was trying to tamp down preliminary estimates.
“We all hope to get expectations low so we can pass what the media thinks is our target,” Romney told The Examiner in an interview. “Everybody is wanting to keep unrealistic expectations from becoming the hurdle.”
Romney spoke between two of many fundraisers that are jamming his schedule this week as he frantically tries to accumulate as much cash as possible before the end of the month. First-quarter fundraising totals are considered important barometers of a candidate’s strength in the presidential primaries.
During the weekend, McCain engaged in some lowballing of his own by telling reporters he would not meet his first-quarter fundraising goals “because we got a late start.”
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But the Arizona senator formed his presidential exploratory committee before Romney, the former Massachusetts governor pointed out. For that matter, so did Giuliani.
“I don’t have the national name ID that either of the two front-runners have, and you can see that in the national polls,” Romney said. “They’ve of course done dozens of events across the country.”
“I would expect them to have higher fundraising totals than we do at this point,” he said. “But I expect us to catch up through the year, as my name ID and campaign are more successful.”
Romney, like his rivals, would not predict his fundraising total for this quarter. But unlike McCain, Romney said he would hit his internal goals.
“We’ll have the funding that we need — that’s the key thing,” he said. “We’ve got a national primary plan in place and we’re raising funds consistent with our plan. There’s no question we’ll be able to run this to the finish line.”
Read other stories by Bill Sammon
