Politico: Ron Paul brings in $3 million in first quarter 2011

Politico is reporting today that U.S Rep. Ron Paul (R-Clute) raised about $3 million in the first three months of 2011, and also has about $1.7 million in his congressional campaign account. This morning, Paul said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” that he’ll make a decision on another try at the White House “within a couple of months,” according to the Houston Chronicle’s Texas on the Potomac blog.

“The Texas congressman raised $1 million through his federal PAC and $2 million through Campaign for Liberty, a 501c(4) which cannot transfer funds directly to political organizations,” Politico’s Andy Barr reports.

Paul has been using donations to his leadership committee Liberty PAC to fund trips to important presidential primary states, including Iowa and New Hampshire. Paul launched his Campaign for Liberty (CFL) in 2008 using $1.3 million in leftover campaign funds from his presidential campaign, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Paul donated more than $220,000 in campaign funds to CFL in 2009 and 2010, as well.

According to Internal Revenue Service documents, CFL reported total revenue of $2.2 million in 2008 and $6.1 million in 2009. At the end of 2009, CFL had a little more than $300,000 in net assets, according to IRS documents.

According to Federal Election Commission documents, Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign transferred $500,000 to his congressional campaign in March 2010, just before he officially terminated his 2008 presidential campaign account.

While, as Politico notes, CFL cannot give funds directly to political organizations, that doesn’t mean the nonprofit isn’t assisting Paul in getting out his libertarian message. For example, according to an email sent out Wednesday by Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a network of pro-Paul high school and college students, YAL and CFL are co-hosting Paul’s appearances this spring at five college campuses — University of New Hampshire, North Carolina State University, Mississippi State University, Florida State University and University of Nevada-Reno. Paul’s already made his visits to UNH and NCSU, and he’s set to visit the other three in April (MSU on April 20, FSU on April 21 and UN-R on April 28).

With a leadership team that includes several veterans of Paul’s 2008 campaign, YAL is a separate 501(c)4 nonprofit that evolved from Students for Ron Paul, though Paul has endorsed YAL, and CFL gave YAL $25,000 in seed money in late 2008.