You have to hand it to Mitt Romney’s campaign folks. They are painting the millions he’s contributing to his own campaign as a choice to remain independent of special interests.

Right.

To date, the venture capitalist has contributed $9 million to his campaign, nearly a quarter of his overall contributions.

But that’s a good thing, he says.

“I’m not beholden to any particular group for getting me into this race or for getting me elected. My family, that’s the only one I’m really beholden to, they’re the ones who let their inheritance slip away, dollar by dollar.”

Of course, the Romney boys are soaking up a lot of that future inheritance right now.

Yet, Romney’s rugged independence isn’t stopping him from holding $1,000-a-plate fund-raising dinners. The problem appears to be that the cash, and the poll numbers, aren’t increasing.

…a new CNN/WMUR-TV poll in the early voting state of New Hampshire showed that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has pulled into a statistical dead heat with Romney, with Romney garnering 23 percent of the vote and Giuliani 22 percent. In July, Romney had a clear lead, 33 percent to Giuliani’s 18 percent.