The Des Moines Register has an interesting article on the state of the Race in Iowa.

The article states:

The race for the 2008 caucuses is fluid, with Romney, a former Massachusetts
governor, having laid the most groundwork, followed closely by Arizona Sen. John
McCain.

Republican officials in Iowa's most populous counties give the nod to Romney when asked who has the advantage when it comes to on the ground organization:

"There really isn't a frontrunner in Iowa right now," former state GOP Chairman
Mike Mahaffey said. "The polls say it's Rudy Giuliani. But organizationally, I'd
have to say Romney and McCain are doing more of the hard slogging."

Another believes:

Pottawattamie County Republican Chairman David Overholtzer said Romney has
also been to western and southwest Iowa more often than his fellow candidates,
which could give him a leg up in that GOP-rich part of Iowa."If you were taking
a snapshot right now, Governor Romney has got the most momentum in southwest
Iowa," Overholtzer said.

Chairman Steve Schmitt from the Waterloo area said:

"I still say Romney's got more what I would call momentum up here," Schmitt
said.

Why is this important? Despite the polls saying Giuliani is winning in Iowa the key test at this point is organization. Romney and McCain have invested heavily in their staff organizations. This partly accounts for Romney's burn rate which left him essentially tied with Giuliani on the cash on hand number.

Getting staff, headquarters, and equipment has many one time costs that are incurred by the campaign. Having run a grassroots headquarters in 2006 for Senator Santorum this is an apparent fact for me. The things that have to be bought include copy machines, cell phones, hookup fees for the calling plans for the cell phones, printers, paper, fax machines, office supplies, security deposits on the property they are renting, hookup fees for the services the headquarters requires, tables, furniture, any equipment the staff requires, and materials for grand openings. Then you take all of these expenses and multiply them by how many headquarters are set up around the country in IA, NH, SC, MI and Boston.

These are all one time costs that have been incurred by the Romney Campaign and not by the Giuliani campaign. It has been noticeably lacking in the coverage of Romney's cash on hand numbers and should be considered when analyzing the numbers.

Labels: cash on hand, fundraising, iowa, Romney