After hinting earlier that he would pull in somewhere between $15 million and $20 million in campaign donations during the year's second fiscal quarter (April 1 through June 30), Mitt Romney's campaign announced this morning that it had reaped a total of $18.25 million. Is that good?

Yes!: Romney's $18.25 million haul is more than the declared sums of Ron Paul ($4.5 million), Tim Pawlenty ($4.2 million), Jon Huntsman ($4.1 million, including an unknown amount of his own money), Herman Cain ($2.5 million), and Newt ... heh, sorry ... Newt Gingrich ($2 million, with $1 million in debt) combined. Michele Bachmann has yet to declare her second-quarter numbers, and considering her surge as of late and her general knack at convincing people to give money to her, they'll probably be pretty good. Still, $18.5 million obviously puts Romney in a league of his own, and confirms that, in addition to looking like he has more money than his rivals, he will actually have more money than his rivals.

But: Sure, Romney beats all his Republican opponents, but does he beat ... himself? In the first quarter of 2007 (the campaign started earlier last time), Romney boasted a $23.5 million haul. That included $2.5 million of his own money, but $21.5 million is still $3.25 million more than his sum this quarter. Also, President Obama, with the help of the DNC, is expected to have raised over $60 million in the second quarter. Nothing Romney can do about that, but it just puts things into perspective.

Mitt Romney raises $18.25 million [Fix/WP]