Mitt Romney: His super PAC burn rate soared in January

Mitt Romney had the biggest super PAC donations, and was the biggest spender. Can Rick Santorum's super PAC keep pace in Michigan and Arizona?

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Which would be great, except that Rick Santorum is breathing down his neck in two states that everybody thought were Romney shoo-ins - Arizona and Michigan.

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4. How do the GOP candidates compare to Barack Obama?

The longer the GOP primary goes, the bigger Obama’s cash advantage grows.

As Tuesday's Washington Post’s Morning Fix points out, the four GOP candidates have $13 million in cash - combined. President Obama has nearly six times that amount at $76 million. While the President’s super PAC had a dreadful month of under $100,000 raised, Obama has since reversed his willingness for his campaign to seek super PAC fundraising and so that number is almost certainly to rise - it can’t go down much farther.

Obama actually had a negative burn rate during the month of around $6 million. However, the president is getting to invest in staff, technology, and organization more than television advertisements. It’s not as if the GOP candidates aren’t getting to do this, but the emphasis is different - and likely offers a better springboard to the general election.

5. What’s next on the fund-raising trail?

After Santorum’s mid-January sweep of Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, DCDecoder wrote that he’d have to up his fund-raising game. He has. The next two weeks, however, will move at warp speed. First up are the Arizona and Michigan primaries, followed shortly thereafter by Washington and then the explosion of delegates available on “Super Tuesday,” March 6.

With Newt Gingrich backer Sheldon Adelson promising another $10 million for the former House speaker, Ron Paul steady as ever and Santorum showing he can put money in the bank, its putting campaign treasure to its best use that will be at a premium before the next set of campaign disclosures appears.

— David Grant / @DW_Grant

Watch the top Republican candidates face off in the CNN Republican Presidential debate live from Arizona! Wednesday night at 8 ET on CNN (Sponsored message).

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