Bachmann raises $4.2 million in 2nd quarter

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann raised $4.2 million between her congressional and presidential committees in the past three months, putting her on pace with most of the GOP presidential candidates but well behind frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Bachmann collected $2.2 million since she started her presidential campaign in mid-June and transferred $2 million from her congressional committee. She has $3.6 million cash on hand, aided in part by nearly $2 million she had left over from her 2010 congressional race.

But Bachmann's $4.2 million puts her squarely in the pack of presidential candidates, though somewhat short of expectations set for the prodigious small-dollar fundraiser. Bachmann's total trails former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has raised $4.5 million, though her cash on hand is more than double Pawlenty's $1.4 million war chest.

Both Minnesotans are well behind Romney, who raised more than $18 million in the second quarter.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's communications director Tim Albrecht said Bachmann's total would bring her skyrocketing expectations down to Earth. "Bachmann needed expectation-lowering fundraising number and got it," he tweeted. "Still, that limp into Ames needs an uptick coming out."

Friday was the first major fundraising filing deadline for the 2012 presidential race, providing an initial peek into the health of GOP campaigns for the White House.

As she did in her House races, Bachmann was fueled by small-dollar donations. She had more than 88,000 contributors who gave an average of $68 per contribution, according to the campaign. About $3.1 million of Bachmann's contributions were less than $200.

Of Pawlenty's itemized contributions, 27 percent came from within Minnesota. While Bachmann's fundraising is driven by un-itemized small donations, nearly 90 percent of Pawlenty's contributions were donations above $200.