DALLAS — In the presidential fight for Texas, Republican candidates probably won’t try to compete with Rick Perry for the huge bounty of convention delegates allotted after the March primary.
But Mitt Romney isn’t totally conceding the Lone Star State to its governor. He’s slipping into Texas not to woo delegates or voters, but to take campaign money out of Perry’s backyard.
That cash will help him compete with Perry in early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. It’s a sign of Perry’s late start as a candidate and the fact that after a decade as governor, some Texas Republicans have split from a governor of their own party.
It also shows that Texas is a huge resource for Republican candidates.
"You have to balance his favorite-son status with the fact that Texas has been a harvest ground for campaign funds," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.
On Sept. 13, Romney has scheduled a series of fundraisers in Texas, including a Dallas event at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel. The organizers and donors include several Texans who backed George W. Bush’s campaigns or Kay Bailey Hutchison’s failed challenge to Perry last year.
Romney has flexed his fundraising prowess in Texas before, too. According to federal reports, he raised $1.38 million from the state in the second quarter of this year. That total was higher than any Republican candidate for the White House and a close second to President Barack Obama, who pulled out $1.4 million from Texas.
It’s a small part of the budding contest between Perry and Romney, widely considered the two top contenders for the GOP nomination to take on Obama. They’ve been cautious about criticizing each other so far, which Perry continued Tuesday.
"I don’t know Governor Romney well enough on a personal basis," Perry told conservative radio host Sean Hannity. "This race is not going to be about personalities, and it’s certainly not going to be personal. It’s going to be about records."
According to his latest campaign disclosure reports, Romney’s North Texas donors include legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, prominent businessman Harold Simmons and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. Staubach, for one, was one of Hutchison’s biggest supporters in 2010.
All gave before Perry announced in South Carolina that he was running for president. And some, such as Simmons, are expected to switch to backing him against Romney.
Perry, who held fundraisers in Dallas and Fort Worth on Tuesday, is expected to rely heavily on Texans to compete with Romney’s haul, particularly in the early stages of his campaign. And some prominent Republicans can expect pressure to hold their noses and back a governor they’ve opposed before.
Perry’s relatively late entrance into the race — and repeated denials that he would run — resulted in many donors giving to Romney.
Even some of those close to Perry peeled away, sure he wasn’t running. In one strange twist, Republican Leslie Sullivan, the wife of Perry’s campaign communications director Ray Sullivan, is raising money for Romney.
"On one hand, you’re seeing the downside of the governor waiting to get into the race," Henson said. But he added that Perry, as the most powerful political figure in Texas, will ultimately reassert his fundraising dominance in his home state.
Still, many of Romney’s supporters say he’s the best choice for president.
"I’ve known Romney for 40 years," said former Texas Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips, who is part of the host committee for the Romney fundraiser in Dallas. "He has the skill set needed to be president."
Phillips declined to comment further, saying the Romney campaign instructed him to refer all media questions to their communications department.
Dallas Republican Bob Epstein, a leader in the financial services industry, also acknowledged he was helping sponsor the Romney event, but said he was told by the campaign not to talk to the media.
Romney could get additional support in North Texas, most notably from Texans who have not exactly been thrilled with Perry in his time as governor.
Dallas lawyer Michael Boone, a former chairman of the Dallas Citizens Council, said he prefers Romney to Perry. Boone was a heavy supporter of Bush and Hutchison.
"I have to do what’s in the best interest of the country," Boone said. "As of today, it would be Romney, not Perry."
Former Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman, who supported former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty before he left the contest and hasn’t said who he’ll support now, said Romney’s Texas money — and support — would soon wither.
"He will have a core group, but I don’t think Governor Romney is going to get the same level of support he’s gotten out of Texas in the past," Neerman said. "Governor Perry is going to capture most of those donors. After all, he’s the favorite son."
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