Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney: Who is the Big Debtor?
By IBTimes Staff Reporter: December 23, 2011 9:33 PM GMT


Nearly all 2012 Republican candidates - Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and others - claim they are fiscal conservatives. That is, they "promise to cut the U.S. national debt through reduced government spending".

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, the biggest debtor in the 2012 presidential race

Being perceived as a fiscal conservative is crucial to winning the Republican nomination, according to multiple polls. Indeed, Americans have become increasingly concerned about the ballooning national debt, which recently exceeded 100 percent of the GDP.

But which candidate actually walks the walk on fiscal responsibility?

Below is a summary of the campaign finances of Paul, Gingrich, Romney and President Barack Obama from OpenSecrets.org (as of Sept. 30, 2011).

Ron Paul

Total Raised: $12,623,422

Total Spent: $8,948,654

Cash on Hand: $3,674,768

Debts: $0


Newt Gingrich

Total Raised: $2,897,954

Total Spent: $2,544,537

Cash on Hand: $353,417

Debts: $1,192,866


Mitt Romney

Total Raised: $32,212,389

Total Spent: $17,559,845

Cash on Hand: $14,656,966

Debts: $0


Barack Obama

Total Raised: $86,215,580

Total Spent: $27,115,268

Cash on Hand: $61,403,711

Debts: $1,709,300


Paul is spending most of the money he raised, saving some of it and accruing no debt. Romney has saved 45 percent of the money he raised so far. Obama, strangely, has $1.7 million in debt even though he has more than enough cash to pay it back.

Gingrich is the big debtor in this group.

As of Sept. 30, he had $1.2 million in debt even though he raised only $2.9 million. He had just $350,000 in cash.

When Gingrich finally decided to tackle his enormous debt, one debt he paid back more quickly than many others is the $42,000 his campaign owed to him personally for using his mailing list, according to the Washington Post.

(Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to request an investigation of the $42,000 payment).

So why does the former House Speaker have so much debt?

It was mainly due to "luxury jets and other pricey expenses racked up in the early weeks of his campaign," wrote the Washington Post. His biggest debt ($451,946) is towards Moby Dick Airways, a private jet company.

Gingrich's precarious financial situation meant he is "behind in his ability to match opponents' spending in early-voting states, where he has just started to pay for advertising and is scrambling to catch up on staffing," wrote the Washington Post.

Sounds like a personal lesson in fiscal discipline.

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Yep! Mr G will show King Barry how to spend our money! Even on a coffee salary he has a champaigne apetite! Screw payin the debtors, give me mine first!

Mr G..."What do you mean we're broke!? I still have checks left!"

He'll make our $16T debt look like a dime store charge!

He claims just over $1M on his tax returns, yet has a $500K shopping spree with the gold digger he married at Tiffanys......

And people expect he can balance the budget and get us out of debt?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Some peoples logic!!

I guess you can forgive anything if your willing to forget 3 marriges all ended by extra-marital affairs, 80+ ethics violations causing you to step down as speaker from a corrupt congress (that in itself speaks VOLUMES, after you have crossed the isle in politics with the very person who brought the charges against you!) and condemning a President and asking his impeachment for the same crimes YOU are guilty of at that very time.... Yep, he' changed! He cares less now than he did before, but he learned to say "I'M sorry, just trust me!"

Unbelievable!

I bet the reason he didn't get his VA ballot requirements done on time was because he thought they would bend the rules for him.... WHAT ARROGANCE!

Now his staff (and he) are complaining the rules (that everyone else abides by, and have been in place for decades...) aren't fair, and are petitioning the state for change!

Sorry Newter! Your only that special in your own mind!

Romney is saving the money knowing he is going to be the noninee so he has funds to come out the door swinging during the general election.

Wall street and the bankers keep funding Romney and Obummer because either one will keep greasing the wheels of corruption in DC.

A vote for either is a vote for more of the same, only worse!

In criminal cases you always follow the money...theirs leads right to the banks, FED and wall street crooks!