Utah No. 2 in Romney contributions

So far, Utahns have contributed more to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney than residents of any other state except California, according to new financial reports released Friday.

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"Utah is a natural base of support for Mitt Romney," said Kelly Patterson, director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. "The more connections you have with people, the easier it is to rely on them for support."

And Romney, unlike any other White House contender, has plenty of Utah ties.

He led the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from scandal to success before being elected governor of Massachusetts for a single term — and, like most Utahns, he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"The LDS connection is significant," said Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a Romney supporter. "His candidacy has activated individuals who maybe never before have contributed to a campaign."

Not just in Utah, either, Jowers said, noting top-ranked California is also home to a large number of Mormons. "California is the golden state for Romney. It has a sizable LDS component, a lot of money and a lot of people," he said.

Romney and the other major presidential candidates of both parties had announced last month how much they have collected in the first quarter of the year. The first Federal Election Commission filings of the presidential campaign, providing details of the earlier announcements, are due by midnight tonight.

Utah is "a huge part of the Romney fund-raising plan," Jowers said. "The first quarter of fund-raising is always where you go to your known supporters. Romney is beloved here for his Olympic leadership."

So it's no surprise that a significant chunk of the more than $23 million raised by Romney in the first three months of the year came from Utahns, including some $2 million by late February when Romney held fund-raising events in Salt Lake City and St. George.

Information released by the campaign showed that Utah trailed only California in total dollars raised, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, New York, Florida, Arizona, Ohio and Connecticut.

Romney campaign officials did not provide a state-by-state breakdown of money raised.

Just how much cash was collected in Utah was not immediately available from among the more than 36,000 donations reported to the FEC in the first filing of the presidential campaign season. Almost 20,000 of those donations were less than $200 and were not itemized.