Some More Third Quarter FEC Highlights -- Romney

Without the $17M in checks he wrote to himself, ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney would be $9M in debt. But that's a meaningless factoid: Romney has the money, and he can write and spend as much as he wants.

Does a campaign with a 114% burn rate raise questions about its investment strategy? Not really. Could Romney realistically have spent $50M on anything else? There's no way, in a presidential year featuring superstars of Obama-Giuliani-Clinton-Thompson-McCain calibers, that Romney could have spent the money to increase his national profile and therefore his national polling numbers.

Pay Day Hey Hey? To increase the trim of their fundraising pitch, the campaigns often postpone end of quarter paydays, and it seems like Romney's staff only got paid once in September, rather than twice -- on the 15th and the 30th.