DENVER - What’s the cost of a reputation built over three decades? For Mitt Romney, it’s the equivalent of about $35 million.

Asked about the role of money in the campaign, the former venture capitalist said the winner of the Republican presidential nomination would not necessarily be the person who spent the most money, but for him, it was worth investing his own millions.

“I was not somebody who was well known in the campaign,” said the former Massachusetts governor, noting that his chief rival Sen. John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who dropped out of the race this week, started out with much better name recognition.

“There was a time in my campaign when my campaign manager said to me: ‘These guys have spent the last 30 years of their life building name recognition and reputation.  If you’re going to compete with them, you’re going to have to take something of what you’ve built over the last 30 years and invest it in your campaign.’”

“She was right,” Romney said.

Latest figures out this week showed Romney poured $18 million of his personal fortune into his White House bid during the last three months of 2007.  That took his personal spending on the race to $35 million.

“You have to play with the hand you’re dealt,” he said. “I was dealt the hand of coming from a state not known as being a Republican state, a guy who was not terribly well known. And it meant that I had to raise more money and invest more money than the other guys to get to the point where I could be competitive.”

“But at the final analysis the person who wins will not necessarily be the person who had the most money in the race or spent the most in the race. It’ll come down, I believe, to their vision for the future of America, their reputation, their organization.”

-Photo Credit: Reuters/Mark Leffingwell  (Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes an appearance at Freeway Ford in Denver)