Mitt Romney buying his support for '08

The wealthiest candidate of either party running for the '08 Presidential election, Mitt Romney, is buy his way to popularity with his quarter of a billion personal wealth.

Now, early in the 2008 campaign, a new variety of walk-around money has emerged according to Federal Election Commission reports investigated by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus project.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is distributing numerous payments, primarily to religious and social conservatives, most of them in Iowa, for what he calls "GOTV Consulting." "GOTV" is political shorthand for get-out-the-vote - just what walk-around payments financed.

"We pay the consultants to help organize and grow our volunteer base," Romney political director Carl Forti told the Huffington Post.

The payments start at $500 a month, the base rate for student leaders, many of whom are chairs in the "Iowa Students for Romney" campaign organization. At a higher level, Joe Earle, former director of the Iowa Christian Alliance (the successor to the Iowa Christian Coalition) gets $4,000 a month, and Gary Marx, a top-level member on the Romney for President National Faith And Values Steering Committee, gets $8,000 a month. full story