Romney moviliza a sus donantes para demostrar su poderío

El Gobernador Mitt Romney se reunirá hoy en Nueva York con sus principales donantes neoyorkinos para establecer la estrategia a seguir. La de NY es una de muchas reuniones que mantendrá en las próximas semanas con donantes y recaudadores de 15 grandes ciudades. El objetivo es coordinarse para recaudar grandes cantidades de dinero en los primeros 3 meses, para consolidar su condición de front-runner y hacer ver a sus rivales la dificultad de seguirle el ritmo.

Lo cuenta el Wall Street Journal:

(...) Mr. Romney and top aides will meet Thursday in New York with nearly 100 donors—many from Wall Street— at the Harvard Club. Attendees are being asked to raise between $25,000 and $50,000 for Mr. Romney within 90 days, in an effort to post large fund-raising totals quickly, one person familiar with events said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Romney met with fund-raisers in downtown Washington, where he also gave his view of the early nominating caucuses and primaries.

Mr. Romney said he needed to do well in the New Hampshire and Florida primaries and Nevada's caucuses, while emerging from those early states with enough money to convince undecided voters that he would have the financial firepower to get to the finish line.

He said he expected to win in Nevada, as he did in 2008, and that he saw Florida's primary as pivotal, with only two candidates likely to emerge from that state able to compete in the later primaries. Less clear was his thinking on the nation's first nominating contest—the Iowa caucuses—where socially conservative voters dominate and where Mr. Romney placed a distant second in 2008.

Finance meetings are also scheduled for March 30 in Los Angeles, as well as in Detroit, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, people familiar with plans said. Romney fund-raisers are set to converge on Las Vegas on May 16 for a final push ahead of the first financial filing deadline. The Las Vegas meeting will include a marathon phone-a-thon to reach donors, according to one fund-raiser involved in the plan.

"When the day is done and we're in the thick of a presidential race, money will not be an obstacle for Gov. Romney," said Lewis Eisenberg, a prominent hedge fund manager who will attend Thursday's event.

"By early summer, the world will know what we've done," another prominent fundraiser said.

(...) More than 90 people are expected to attend the New York meeting Thursday, Among those expected: Mr. Eisenberg; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Manhattan real estate developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross, and Emil Henry, a former top Treasury official in the George W. Bush administration.

The list shows Mr. Romney making inroads in courting fund-raisers who worked for Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), the 2008 Republican nominee. McCain's two national finance chairmen—Mr. Eisenberg and Washington lobbyist Wayne Berman—are now with Mr. Romney. Mr. Johnson, led the fund-raising effort for the Republican National Convention in 2008, was also with Mr. McCain that year. (...)