Fundraising trumps rallies in Romney's schedule

This article originally appeared on RealClearPolitics.

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(CBS News) As his campaign dealt with the fallout from a video highlighting politically volatile remarks he made at a private fundraiser in May, Mitt Romney was once again out of public view on Tuesday.

With less than seven weeks remaining until Election Day, the Republican presidential nominee spent his morning at a Salt Lake City finance event before a scheduled trip to Dallas for a private fundraising dinner.

Entrenched in the most conservative state in the nation before landing deep in the heart of Texas, the entirety of Romney's day will have been spent hundreds of miles from the nearest swing state. What's more, he is slated to appear in public only via a satellite feed for an interview on the Fox News Channel.

Romney's light public schedule in the heart of the campaign's final sprint has led some GOP donors to grumble that he should be paying less attention to them at this point and spending more time winning over voters who will decide the election at the ballot box.

"There's not really a campaign here," said one Republican with extensive ties to the party's fundraising community. "He's getting ready for the debates, and he's out fundraising. You've got enough money!"

Over the last seven days, Romney's public events have included just two rallies: one with supporters at a campaign office in Florida, and a speech to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in California.

During the same time frame, he has attended seven private fundraisers and had two days with no events scheduled at all, choosing instead to prepare for the three upcoming debates with President Obama and conducting one TV interview.

In all, Romney has spent only nine of the 19 days since the conclusion of the Republican National Convention campaigning in battleground states.

But while some donors want to see more of him in public, others say that they are on board with the strategy behind this relatively light schedule.

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[davidd5063]

GOP SOP for the past 30 years. Claim fiscal responsibility and attempt to scare seniors into thinking the govt won't be able to send them their check with "overwhelming debt" rants and ALWAYS add a few lies to frame the whole spending problem as blacks receiving free checks from the govt. When elected, immediately manufacture a crisis, begin handing out free checks to your friends and relatives, OUTRIGHT BUY Senior votes with targeted tax breaks and NEW ENTITLEMENTS, destroy the economy so the young can be called lazy, and when it all comes crashing down and you lose power - back to "fiscal conservatism" and claim the guy in office now created the whole debt, and implying it was by handing out free checks to blacks. Yes, that is what I call morally bankrupt.

[davidd5063]

"He's getting ready for the debates, and he's out fundraising. You've got enough money!" - Also, note to Skippy: See article on Mittens campaign being $11M in debt. While from a GOP administration perspective, deficits don't matter (only relevant when Dems are in office), it's probably time to "adjust expectations" on that whole "Mittens Administration" idea.

[davidd5063]

"I think getting on television and telling the people what you're going to do ..." - really? Are you SURE about that Skippy? Unless you're talking about Fox News, his butt boys aren't even faring well. You whole strategy is to run propoganda ads 24/7 on TV down the stretch? Good luck with that plan Skippy.

[SteveVA78]

And for Obama fundraising trumps doing the job WE pay him to do.

"NBCNews.comSee realtime coverage Obama in NYC for fundraiser, Letterman show"

Yet again the chair in the Oval Office sits empty.