OAK BLUFFS: Mitt Romney criss-crossed his home state of Massachusetts on Saturday in a major fundraising drive before the Republican convention, netting $7 million after a two-day blitz.
A week after the roll-out of running mate Paul Ryan and with roughly 80 days to go before the November 6 election in which he aims to oust President Barack Obama, Romney was foregoing chances to campaign in crucial swing states, opting to raise cash with events in New York and Massachusetts.
He said Obama was partly to blame for the excess spending that has become a hallmark of the 2012 campaign, where raising millions of dollars is an absolute necessity.
"That's the challenge with a president who blew through the federal spending limits," Romney, an ex-governor of Massachusetts and multimillionaire former investor, told reporters on his plane before departing the well-heeled island of Martha's Vineyard for nearby Hyannis.
"It means that campaigns now have to spend a disproportionate amount of time fundraising," he added.
"You appreciate all the help you get, but you wish you could spend more time on the campaign trail."
The Republican flagbearer is seeking to fill up his already deep campaign war chest ahead of the August 27-30 convention, where he will become the party's official nominee.
Obama's first presidential run in 2008 raised a record-breaking $750 billion, but his re-election campaign has lagged behind Romney's in pulling in the cash.
The Romney team is in a rush to raise what is deemed "primary money," funding that a candidate brings in before the convention. That money can be spent up until the November election, but can not be raised after the convention.
After Romney becomes the official nominee, donors can make fresh contributions toward the general election campaign.
Romney held two "finance events," as described by his campaign, on Friday night in the Hamptons, a tony area on Long Island. Then on Saturday he held a trio of private events at residences, starting with one at a secluded home on Martha's Vineyard.
Tickets for Friday night's event at the stately Sebonack Golf Club, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, ran $25,000. And the price was double -- $50,000 apiece -- for some events in Massachusetts Saturday.
Romney raised "just shy of $7 million" over the two days, traveling press secretary Rick Gorka said, citing figures from national finance director Spencer Zwick.
That does not count the more than $10 million the Romney campaign raised online in the week since Romney named Ryan as his running mate, the campaign said.
Massachusetts is a largely liberal state, and, even though Romney served here as governor, his campaign does not see it as in play in November.
When boarding his flight out of Martha's Vineyard, Romney shook hands with four drivers who had participated in his motorcade, joking with them that they were "the four Republicans on the island, right?"
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