That was the total pledged to Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate Republican primary campaign against Gov. Charlie Crist in a pair of online fund-raisers known as “money bombs.”

It’s a huge number.

It doesn’t beat Crist’s best stretch of this race (he collected $1 million over three days in June). But it is 25 percent of what Rubio raised in the first nine months of his campaign and 41 percent of all the cash he had on hand to start the year, about $2.1 million.

Crist reported a total of $7.6 million in campaign cash to start 2010.

The money bombs also brought more than 8,000 donations directly to the campaign. As a comparison, Rubio’s campaign had about 11,000 donors through its first six months.

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UPDATE: Florida Democrats are giddy about this news. They’re not claiming they’ll collect more money than the RPOF this year. Instead, they say their analysis shows that “the Florida Democratic Party has never been in better financial shape entering an election year.”

The Republican Party of Florida announced today it raised $4.5 million for the final three months of 2009.

That would be the largest quarterly total of the year, and slightly more than the $4.3 million the party collected in the same time in 2007 - the last non-election year. For the year, the party collected about $1.6 million less than it did in 2007.

2009 RPOF fundraising:

1Q: $3.9 million

2Q: $1.3 million

3Q: $3.8 million

4Q: $4.5 million

The announcement comes just days before the party’s annual meeting in Orlando, where party Chairman Jim Greer’s job is expected to be a main topic of discussion. Last week, a dozen of the party’s top fundraisers signed a letter calling for Greer’s removal.

Left to right, Mark Guzzetta, Mitt Romney and Jeff Atwater.

Former Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney was in Boca Raton this past weekend for a home-cooked Italian dinner and a little fund-raising at the $2 million-home of real estate investor Mark Guzzetta. Romney collected $25,000 for his political action committee, Free & Strong America.

Check out Page2Live for a photo gallery from the event.

That’s what Republican Marco Rubio is hoping. The former House speaker launched this Web site today, which his campaign has been teasing as the “MOST POWERFUL ONLINE FUNDRAISING SITE IN FLORIDA HISTORY.”

The campaign launched the site today to coincide with a special Congressional election in upstate New York. Rubio has been very interested in that race after a conservative third-party candidate helped force the resignation of a more moderate Republican.

Rubio has no plans to run as a third-party candidate, but his insurgent campaign against Republican Gov. Charlie Crist does have some similarities. Crist has a 5-to-1 money advantage so far over Rubio.

Gov. Charlie Crist announced he raised another $2.4 million for his U.S. Senate campaign, a third-quarter collection that is roughly the same amount fellow Republicans Jeff Atwater, Bill McCollum and Marco Rubio combined to collect for their respective statewide campaigns in the same time.

Crist said he has $6.2 million on hand after about five months of fundraising.

Crist said the money will help “ensure that our campaign has the financial means necessary to take the fight for the people of Florida to our nation’s capital.”

But the campaign for Rubio, Crist’s Republican primary opponent, said Crist will need “every last cent.”

“Money can’t wipe away Charlie Crist’s record of support for wasteful stimulus spending, historic tax increases and cap-and-trade,” Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Burgos said.

In an indication that Republican Bill McCollum might have a less-than-stellar fundraising total for the third quarter, his campaign spokesman Shannon Gravitte released this statement today:

“While our third quarter fundraising numbers are still being finalized, the published reports will show a combined total from the McCollum campaign and the Republican Party of Florida of more than $4.5 million. The collective emphasis this quarter on Party building to benefit all Republican candidates has been a tremendous success and we continue to meet all fundraising goals.

“Bill McCollum is the clear leader in polls, job approval and support across Party lines. With 13 months until Election Day, we are pleased with where we stand and hard at work to continue this early momentum.”

That’s the total U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, has after collecting about $229,000 in the third quarter. He’s facing state Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, in a Republican primary for state agriculture commissioner, one of three Florida Cabinet positions and among the five statewide races on the ballot in 2010.

Read his press release here.

Florida candidates and political parties are making a mad scramble to collect small donations before a midnight deadline for third quarter campaign finance reports.

The Florida Democratic Party says if you donate $20 or more before tomorrow, you’ll have a chance to win a free night at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club during the party’s state conference next month.

That got us wondering - what are other pols promising for your money?

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Jill & Bobby Zarin

Crist & Rome

The host committee for Zarin’s fundraiser for Crist is peppered with NYC socialites and also includes Donald Trump and New York Yankee slugger Johnny Damon.

State Sen. Dave Aronberg’s campaign for Florida’s top law-enforcement job is getting fund-raising help from an ex-convict whose latest arrest came as recently as last year.

Gibson

But court records from Arkansas, California and South Florida show the champion kickboxer-turned-businessman has an arrest record that doesn’t match the squeaky-clean image a law enforcement candidate might want from someone publicly supporting his campaign and soliciting contributions.

Read the rest of Post reporter Tony Doris’ story here.

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Marco Rubio announced today he collected $340,000 in contributions during the second quarter. More than 40 percent of that total came from online contributions. Rubio said he received a donation from each of the 50 states.

A quick note on that total: it’s more than the $255,000 he raised in the exploratory phase of his campaign in the first quarter, but less than the $363,000 that Democrat Dan Gelber raised for his U.S. Senate campaign during the first three months of the year. Gelber, who was in the state legislative session for a month of that time, was competing for dollars against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. Meek reported $1.5 million during the same time and Gelber later stepped away from the race and is now running for state attorney general. (Meek told us last night he’ll report about $1.2 million for the second quarter)

Of course, Rubio is running against a popular sitting governor, which makes his task considerably more difficult. (more…)

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, above left, said tonight that the country will probably need another round of stimulus money before long.

“There is more that needs to be done,” Meek said in an interview.

Meek, the frontrunner for the Democratic U.S Senate nomination, was responding to a story in the Palm Beach Post on Sunday that showed Florida is receiving fewer stimulus dollars per-person than any state in the country. Meek said he was planning to review the numbers when he returns to Washington.

“I’m going to pay very close attention to that,” Meek said. “It’s definitely worth looking at and seeing if there are future stimulus packages that Florida gets its fair share.”

Meek said the economy was not turning around as fast as Democrats had hoped. He said plenty of jobs had been saved with stimulus money, but not enough new jobs have been created.

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Gov. Charlie Crist, who is facing an aggressive early challenge from Marco Rubio for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination, sent out a fundraising letter today that starts to layout his own campaign.

It’s noteworthy in that Crist so far has largely refused to answer questions about national issues. He doesn’t include any of his positions in the note, but says his leadership in the past 30 months has brought “real results” in the state.

“My common sense conservative approach to government has provided real results for the people of Florida, and I believe can help right the ship in Washington. You have trusted me to fight for the people of Florida for nearly two decades. As a State Senator, as Education Commissioner, Attorney General and most recently as your Governor, I have worked to protect the quality of life for families and businesses here in the Sunshine State.”

Crist also highlights his campaign web site, which has been recently redesigned to include endorsements and a narrative bio that starts with his immigrant grandfather. The site does not include positions on any particular federal issues.

Reports filed Friday show Negron has raised $239,169 and Ramos $11,414.

With Pruitt facing term limits next year, both Negron and Ramos had already opened campaigns and were raising money for a 2010 Senate race. But Pruitt, citing family and economic concerns, announced May 8 that he would step down this summer instead.

Since then, Negron has hit the accelerator. He raised $174,619 in the five weeks after Pruitt’s announcement.

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