WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s once bulging war chest suddenly looks a lot lighter after the costly primary battle in Michigan.
Romney yesterday bypassed his usual deep-pocketed moneymen to hit up small-time online donors for some quick campaign cash, warning that he needs money fast to fight President Obama’s “kill Romney” strategy.
Coming after his narrow victory in Michigan on Tuesday, the ad signaled that Romney is bracing for an expensive state-by-state battle from Super Tuesday next week to the party convention in August.
His campaign burned though $12.2 million last month while collecting just $7 million. He also has to worry about his big donors maxing out early in what has become an unexpectedly long race to the nomination.
His e-mail fund-raising appeal to supporters included a link to a Web video that portrayed Obama campaign staffers panicked over Romney’s wins in Michigan and Arizona as they exchange a flurry of e-mails plotting to get Romney in Ohio.
At a campaign event in Toledo, Ohio, yesterday, Romney made the case that he’s best suited to head the ticket, saying his GOP rivals were “a couple of guys who spent their entire career in Washington.”
“You can vote for them,” he told the crowd. “I just don’t think we are going to beat Barack Obama and get our country back on track if we have guys whose résumé looks like his résumé, who have never really run anything, don’t understand how the private sector works fundamentally.”
In Ohio, a big prize on Super Tuesday, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum leads in the polls and has so far done a better job courting blue-collar Rust Belt voters.
And Romney also is expected to struggle in southern states including Georgia, where former House Speaker Newt Gingrich leads in the polls.