Texans, do you know which presidential candidate you’ll support in 2012? Though Rick Perry is still on the sidelines, Texas donors sent more than $3 million to already-announced presidential candidates in the second quarter of 2011.

The front-runner by a narrow margin is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with $1,376,220. Following closely behind is the nation’s current Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama, with $1,324,002 in Texas donations. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty received $422, 089.

The Lone Star State’s very own Ron Paul ranked fourth, raising $271,334 from his fellow Texans.

Texans’ favorite 2012 presidential hopefuls:

ROMNEY, MITT (R) (Presidential candidate) $1,376,220
OBAMA, BARACK (D) (Presidential candidate) $1,324,002
PAWLENTY, TIM (R) (Presidential candidate) $422,089
PAUL, RON (R) (Presidential candidate) $271,334
CAIN, HERMAN (R) (Presidential candidate) $136,010
BACHMANN, MICHELE (R) (Presidential candidate) $103,024
GINGRICH, NEWT (R) (Presidential candidate) $93,190
SANTORUM, RICHARD J. (R) (Presidential candidate) $40,775
BLANKENSHIP, JARED (R) (Presidential candidate) $21,500
JOHNSON, GARY EARL (R) (Presidential candidate) $15,250
TERRY, RANDALL A. (D) (Presidential candidate) $6,900

“Congressional hopeful Ann Wagner has never run for public office before…The previous head of the Missouri GOP will file paperwork this week showing she raised more than a half-million dollars in her first two months of campaigning.” “While Election Day is still well over a year away, early fundraising success can go a long way towards building momentum and swaying supporters.

 Read  Jake Wagman’s Complete Article at 

by:  Keith Koffler

The Obama campaign appears to be signaling that its fundraising totals for the second quarter of the year – the first since President Obama announced for reelection – will not be as robust as the campaign would like.

In an email to campaign supporters today, President Obama unmistakably sought to downplay money.

They’re not wrong, but they are wrong about why.

We measure our success not in dollars but in people — in the number of everyday Americans who’ve chosen to give whatever they can afford because they know we’ve got more work to do.”

Campaign officials revealed during the last week that they have set a target of raising $60 million for the quarter from at least 450,000 donors.

But even $60 million would not seem to be a very ambitious goal for Obama. He raised the same amount during the second quarter of 2007, just after he announced his 2008 campaign.

The campaign is hoping to raise up to $1 billion total for the 2012 election.

The email reiterates a call for donors to give at least $5 in order to be automatically entered into a raffle for dinner with Obama and Vice President Biden.

Read more at

sunshinestatenews.com
By: Kevin Derby

While Jacksonville may have elected its first Democratic mayor in two decades earlier in the month, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is counting on the First Coast in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney held a fund-raiser at EverBank Field, where the Jaguars play, on Tuesday and brought in more than $300,000 to his war chest.

In the Republican presidential primary back in 2008, Romney relied heavily on the First Coast which helped propel him to a second place finish behind U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Romney carried Nassau, Duval, St. Johns, Flagler and Clay counties and is looking at reinforcing his stronghold there for 2012. Romney was at the kickoff event for state Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, in his bid for re-election back in 2010. Thrasher, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, backed Romney in 2008 and is doing so again in 2012.

Besides Thrasher, Romney can count on much of the Republican establishment in 2012 for additional support. U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw and his wife, Thrasher and his wife, and outgoing Mayor John Peyton co-chaired the event on Tuesday. Other supporters in the area who helped organize the event include former Rep. Aaron Bean, a Republican who is now the front-runner for the state Senate seat in 2012 currently held by Sen. Steve Wise. R-Jacksonville. Former Mayor John Delaney, now president of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, also helped organize the event. So did Duval County Sheriff John Rutherford and state Rep. Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville. Other supporters backing Romney at the event included Herb Peyton, the founder of Gate Petroleum and the father of the current mayor, and Wayne Weaver, the majority owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Prominent businessman Tom Petway, who helped lead Jacksonville’s efforts when it hosted the Super Bowl and well-known for his support of the Bush family, also backed Romney at the event.

A poll from Dixie Strategies taken on behalf of First Coast News of Jacksonville Republicans earlier in May showed that Romney’s support on the First Coast goes beyond just prominent conservative business and political leaders.

Romney took 24.3 percent of the poll followed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas who took second with 17.1 percent. Huckabee has since announced that he will not run for the Republican nomination. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia won the backing of 15.1 percent of those surveyed.

Read more at………http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/mitt-romney-starts-2012-strong-first-coast

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

Mitt Romney made it official Monday, announcing he’s formed a presidential exploratory committee for his all-but-certain second-chance Republican campaign next year with a video that highlights the nation’s massive loss of jobs and says “President Obama’s policies have failed.”
The move makes Romney the second semi-declared contender — Tim Pawlenty was the first, and on the Democratic side Obama made official last week — and will allow him to start raking in campaign cash toward a massive fundraising goal of well over $50 million.

He also made the announcement a day before the fifth anniversary of enacting as governor a sweeping Massachusetts health care law that has emerged as one of his biggest obstacles to winning the GOP nomination and one that Democrats have been gleefully seizing on.
The video shows a casually-dressed Romney speaking direct to camera for two-and-a-half minutes in front of the football field at the University of New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state where he has staked his second run for president and one that borders Massachusetts.
“This morning, I spoke with a number of students here at the University of New Hampshire,” Romney says to the camera, adding that many “wonder if they’ll find good jobs when they graduate.”
He adds that he went to Nevada last week, and that “unemployment there is over 13 percent.”
“Over 20 million Americans still can’t find a job or have given up looking,” says Romney, who has made clear that “jobs, jobs, jobs” will be the lynchpin to his campaign.
“How has this happened in the nation that leads the world in innovation?” he asks. “The answer is that President Obama’s policies have failed.”
Romney spends much of the video highlighting his history as a businessman, saying, “They just don’t know how jobs are created in the private sector. That’s where I spent my entire career.”
He paints himself as a skilled — and experienced — jobs creator.
“Sometimes I was successful and helped create jobs,” he says. “Other times I wasn’t. I learned how America competes with companies in other countries, why jobs leave and how jobs are created here at home.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52944.html#ixzz1JJpzMNI0