Nj Breakers Softball

The Note: The Haves And The Have-Nots: Money Gap Emerging Among 2012 Candidates

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalte r)

With just days to go until the June 30 quarterly fundraising deadline, we’re about to get our first look at just how well many of the newly-minted presidential candidates are doing in the all-important money primary.

Even before the official numbers are out, it’s already becoming clear that there’s a widening “income” gap among several of the contenders vying for the Republican nomination. And while a less-than-stellar fundraising quarter is not likely to be a deal-breaker for any of them, it will be an important expectations setter.

It’s also clear that presidential candidate Mitt Romney will further solidify his “front-runner” status with a strong showing -- some sources are projecting he could post a $40 million haul.

Compare that to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s flailing campaign. At an auction in Iowa yesterday, Gingrich’s team declined to snap up a coveted spot at the August Ames Straw Poll. The price tag: between $15,000 and $30,000. (Presidential candidate Ron Paul paid $31,000).

Gingrich said that doesn’t mean he won’t be competing, just that “we're not going to spend [that] kind of money.”

Even so, before a speech in Baltimore last night, Gingrich told reporters he’s confident he’ll be in the presidential race through the Iowa Caucuses next year. “Sure, of course,” he said. http://abcn.ws/lPLMeF

With the resignation of more than a dozen top staffers and key members of his finance team, speculation is increasing that Gingrich’s June 30 numbers will be dismal, and may show his campaign already in debt.

Then there’s Tim Pawlenty. His team was pushing back against a Washington Post story yesterday reporting that several of his top aides were working for little or no money -- raising questions, according to the Post, about “whether Pawlenty will have the resources to compete in a long, state-by-state campaign.”

While some Pawlenty aides are working for peanuts or volunteering their time, that was always the plan from the start and should not be seen as any sign that the campaign is not on sound financial footing, a source in the Pawlenty camp told ABC’s Matthew Jaffe.

“This may be hard for some in Washington to accept, but they're on Team Pawlenty for the right reasons, “a Pawlenty aide said, “they believe in the candidate and the cause.

The Final Week Of A Year Long Journey! (NJ) “DAY 358″ – 6/27/11 ...

The list is so endless, I can’t even begin to thank everybody individually because I would be writing all day.  But the bottom line is and this is to anybody who has done anything for me this year, I am forever grateful and will never to be able to truly explain how much all you have done has meant to me as a person.  I’m changed forever! (In a good way!) F.Y.I. - I did this interview over the phone while I was staying at Jonah’s place in New York City.  I didn’t know when it come out so that’s why I got the email.

Anyway, after reading the story I was real happy with it.  Although there were a few mistakes in it (I didn’t leave from my Mom’s, I left from Buck’s place and some other minor details), I still think it was great piece about my year long journey.  Thank you very much Elaine!

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