The backlash over the national Democratic Party's shutout of Florida appears to have deflated donors' willingness to pony up campaign cash, resulting in a year-end drop in contributions to the Democratic presidential contenders.
Democrats had been outpacing their Republican rivals in Florida for most of 2007, but closed the year more than $1.36 million behind the GOP contenders, who raised $13.73 million from Florida donors in 2007. The Florida numbers are not a reflection of how the candidates are doing nationally, where the Democrats are outpacing GOP candidates.
Democrats say the likely reason for the weak Florida numbers: the Democratic National Committee's decision to punish the state for moving the date of its primary by stripping Florida of its convention delegates, followed by a pact signed by the top Democratic candidates to not campaign here.
`MOONING US'
''It's hard to imagine anything the Democratic Party could have done which would have hurt us more, other than coming down here, dropping their pants and mooning us,'' said Steve Geller, the Democratic leader in the state Senate.
The reports show Republicans -- who were stripped of half their delegates but could campaign -- had their best quarter yet, raising $4.76 million. But it was the worst quarter of the year for Democrats, who raised $2.36 million for the quarter, which began in October just as the candidate boycott of Florida began.
''It's definitely harder to raise money when no one is seeing the candidate,'' said Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter, who is backing Barack Obama. ``It's a much harder mountain to climb when you're talking on the phone or offering only surrogates.''
Obama's fundraising declined, from $806,414 the previous quarter to $692,838 in the quarter that ended Dec. 31.
GOP NUMBERS
Republican Rudy Giuliani, who had staked his candidacy on winning Florida but dropped out Wednesday after placing a distant third in the state primary, led all candidates, raising $1.5 million. Among Republicans, he was followed by second-place Florida finisher Mitt Romney, who raised $1 million in the state. Florida primary front-runner John McCain raised $541,244 in the final quarter.
McCain was outraised by Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who finished fifth in Florida, but pulled in $676,015 in the quarter, more than three times as much as his previous quarter.
Mike Huckabee, who began surging in Florida polls only in mid-December and rushed in to tap donors, found the state a relative gold mine. His fundraising report showed he raised $633,201 in the quarter -- a 700 percent increase over the $72,726 he had raised in Florida since January 2007.
Though the former Arkansas governor had the enthusiastic support of House Speaker Marco Rubio and a number of Miami-Dade lawmakers, the report shows he picked up the bulk of his support in Orange and Hillsborough counties.
Fred Thompson, who pulled out of the contest before Florida voted, raised just $376,270.
SOUTH FLORIDA
Democrat Hillary Clinton led the Democratic pack with $1.34 million raised -- but that was were down from the $1.46 million she had raised in the previous quarter. And John Edwards, who dropped out of the race Wednesday, got just $75,281 -- one-fourth of his third-quarter contributions.
In South Florida, the undisputed leader was Clinton. She earned 68 percent of her total contributions in South Florida, for a total of $879,000 -- of which, more than half came from Miami-Dade. She was followed by Giuliani, with $610,000 -- who got 42 percent of his Florida earnings in South Florida -- and Romney, with $489,000, 49 percent of his Florida haul.
