Bonanza: Romney's PAC raises $3.5 million in first half of year

Mitt Romney has raised nearly $3.5 million for his political action committee in the first half of the year, a sum that dwarfs that of other possible 2012 Republican presidential candidates and establishes the former Massachusetts governor as a potent political force…

In an effort to expand his base, Romney has redistributed about $400,000 of the money to other Republican causes and candidates, including large sums to gubernatorial nominees in politically crucial states: $42,000 to Nikki Haley in South Carolina, $20,000 to Terry Branstad in Iowa, and $10,000 to Rick Perry in Texas…

Palin’s committee, called SarahPAC, has raised about $1.3 million so far this year, the bulk of it in the second quarter. Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi raised $278,000 for his Haley’s PAC through the end of May. (The latest filings are not yet due). Pawlenty will report that the Freedom First PAC he launched last fall has taken in about $1.3 million this year, according to a spokesman.