Ted Cruz brings in more than $4 million at start of 2016 campaign
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz brought in $4.3 million during the first nine days of his presidential campaign, according to paperwork he filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Cruz, a Texas senator, spent just $371,513 of the money he raised and still has more than $3.9 million cash on hand. He was the only candidate whodeclared his campaign early enough to have to file his initial paperwork by March 31.
Separately, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's presidential exploratory committee filed paperwork showing that he raised $2.1 million in 29 days. None of that money has been spent.
The other declared candidates - Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as Democrat Hillary Clinton - won't have to file paperwork showing how much money they raised until July 15. Those numbers will cover the period between April 1 and June 30.
The amount of money raised by candidates' presidential committees will offer an important but incomplete look at their overall financial picture. Much of the money that will be spent on behalf of those candidates will come from the super PACs that support them. Super PACs are required to submit their fundraising records to the FEC semi-annually and will not generate public records until July.
Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money from various sources, including individuals, corporations or unions. The super PAC can use that money to run any kind of ads and provide any kind of support to a candidate, as long as it's not coordinating with the candidate.
Nearly every would-be candidate has a super PAC supporting him or her. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became the latest candidate to get a supportive super PAC Wednesday when two of his former campaign managers formed the Unintimidated PAC (apparently a reference to Walker's 2013 book, "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge).