Fueled by donors in states with a high concentration of Mormons, Republican Mitt Romney has raised more money in the interior West than any other presidential candidate, an analysis of federal election records shows.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, collected nearly $4.5 million from the region in the first quarter of 2007. While Salt Lake City not surprisingly topped the list, Romney also raised a considerable amount of money in towns such as Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Mesa, Ariz.
The $241,000 he collected in Idaho, which has an established and growing Mormon population, is one-fourth of the amount Idaho residents gave to all presidential candidates in the entire 2004 election cycle.
“The Mormon community is a network, with tight-knit relationships, and he is tapped into that,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political-science professor at the University of Idaho. “It has a cascading effect. I think the fundraising within those communities will continue to grow as things heat up.”
Trailing closely behind Romney was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who raised $3 million collectively in the region’s eight states – Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. Richardson, a Democrat, raised 90 percent of the money from his home state.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona came in third, collecting 80 percent of his $1.6 million from his home state.
Overall, 60 percent of the money donated in the region went to Republican candidates and 40 percent to Democrats.
The $12 million raised in the interior West is a small amount – about 11 percent – of the total collected by presidential candidates during the first quarter. Early campaign money is usually picked up in dense cities with deep pockets such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But as donors in those areas max out and the presidential field narrows, more candidates are expected to visit the interior West and, as a result, garner more donations from it. Additionally, many states in the region are considered swing states.
“As more and more of the political establishment tells Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, etc., that they are the new battleground states, there is a greater potential for donors there to get engaged,” said Amy Walter, senior editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Unlike McCain or Richardson, Romney’s home state isn’t in the interior West. But the country’s highest concentration of Mormons is in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada, according to the LDS church. Additionally, Romney has strong connections in the region, especially in Utah.
The former head of Bain Capital in Boston, Romney ran the Olympic Organizing Committee in Salt Lake City from 1999 to 2002. He went to Brigham Young University in Provo, and its public-management institute is named after his father, George V. Romney.
If Mormons are coalescing behind Romney, then the interior Western states – especially Utah and Idaho, which are rarely courted politically – may have an impact on his campaign, not just through donations but also by introducing Romney to non-Mormon residents.
Already, Romney has received donations in the region averaging from about $945 in Montana to $1,355 in Nevada. That indicates there is room to grow even among those who have already contributed, Walter said.
Additionally, an analysis by The Associated Press showed that a number of donors who gave to Romney in the first quarter had never contributed before in a federal election. They were exposed to Romney through his business connections, the Olympics and the church.
“All candidates have a natural constituency and social network within which they can tap,” said Kelly Patterson, a political-science professor at Brigham Young University, noting that ethnicity, religion and geography are often-used connections.
“One of Gov. Romney’s is his religion, and he’s reaching out to those individuals,” Patterson said. “But he is also appealing to conservatives and trying to be the conservative candidate. The two things reinforce each other.”
Staff writer Karen E. Crummy can be reached at 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
