South Carolina today Gov. Rick Perry announced his run for the presidency at a gathering put on by RedState (a hard-core conservative Web site, which opposed the debt-ceiling deal and has battled against Republican leaders in Congress). He struck conservative themes in a well-delivered if somewhat conventional speech:
I come to South Carolina because I will not sit back and accept the path that America is on. Because a great country requires a better direction. Because a renewed nation needs a new president.
It is time to get America working again. And that’s why, with the support of my family and an unwavering belief in the goodness of America, I declare to you today as a candidate for president of the United States.
It’s time for America to believe again. It’s time to believe that the promise of our future is far greater than even our best days behind us. It’s time to believe again in the potential of private enterprise, set free from the shackles of overbearing federal government. And it’s time to truly restore our standing in the world and renew our faith in freedom as the best hope for peace in this world that’s beset with strife.
The change we seek will never emanate out of Washington, D.C. It will come from the windswept prairies of Middle America, the farms and factories across this great land, from the hearts and minds of the good-hearted Americans who will accept not a future that is less than our past, patriots — patriots who will not be consigned to a fate of less freedom in exchange for more government.
While New York is a blue state and the city has roughly five registered Democrats for every Republican, candidates from both parties regularly make fundraising calls to well-heeled donors here. But Mr. Romney's GOP rivals haven't paid the Empire State much mind. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has raised $170,000, Texas Rep. Ron Paul $90,000, Newt Gingrich $46,000 and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann just $26,000.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has raised $3.3 million in New York for his re-election bid.
Mr. Romney's fundraising figures have been buoyed by his background in private equity and ties to the business community, insiders said. He is also the only current Republican candidate to have run for president in 2008, giving him a network of donors.
Manhattan-based companies whose city-dwelling employees have given the most to Republican candidates are Goldman Sachs ($147,750), Credit Suisse ($86,825), Morgan Stanley ($69,750), the Blackstone Group ($30,701) and The Related Companies ($30,000). About 95% of those gifts went to Mr. Romney, including the entire amount from Related.
Mr. Obama has netted less than $25,000 from those companies' New York employees, while Mr. Pawlenty received $17,750.
Related is the only major city developer whose executives have donated. “I have long been a staunch supporter of Mitt Romney,” said CEO Stephen Ross. “We are at a very pivotal time in our country where we need the type of leadership and experience that Mitt possesses.”
New Yorkers, including Robert Wood Johnson IV, tended to write Mr. Romney big checks. Nationally, 53% of his donors have given him the maximum allowable contribution of $2,500; the figure is 61% in New York.
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