Utahns shower Mitt with praise and cash

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in Utah Friday to ask the state's residents yet again to contribute to his campaign — and they didn't disappoint him.

While the campaign did not release the amount of money raised during the six-hour "Rally for Romney" at the Salt Palace Convention Center, the total was expected to be higher than the more than $100,000 collected earlier Friday at a private event in St. George.

"Holy cow, we're raising a lot of money," Romney told the hundreds of Utahns gathered at the convention center for the last of more than 50 similar grass-roots events held nationwide this month.

Rally participants were asked to raise at least $1,000 apiece by calling friends, family members and even random residents. In the first 1 1/2 hours of the Utah rally, nearly 30 people had already exceeded that goal.

But the former leader of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City needs a lot of money. Although Romney had collected more than $44 million by mid-year — the most of any GOP presidential candidate — he's spending a lot, too.

Utah has been a significant source of campaign cash for Romney, accounting for nearly $4 million of his midyear total. Only Californians have contributed more to Romney, who is a member of the LDS Church, as are the majority of Utahns.

Romney is advertising heavily in the first states to vote in the presidential primaries, especially Iowa and New Hampshire. Rally participants were shown some of the ads, including one put together by Brigham Young University student Ryan Whitaker, the winner of the Romney campaign's "Create Your Own Ad" contest.

And they were told the strategy is paying off, with Romney leading in polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and Nevada over better-known GOP front-runners, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Now, though, the campaign wants to build Romney's name recognition in other states, and that takes money. "We're counting on this rally," the campaign's finance director, Utahn Spencer Zwick, told the crowd.

Especially since the rally comes at the end of the third quarter for presidential fund raising. All presidential campaigns will have to report to the federal government by Oct. 15 how much was raised in the three months ending Sept. 30.

Romney gave an abbreviated version of his stump speech, describing faith and family as the American values he'll bring to the White House, along with conservatism, Republicanism and strength.