Jim Bunning has been telegraphing bad fundraising numbers for some time now, especially with his public admission last month that his fundraising was “lousy.” With the numbers he released today, we can see the full scope of “lousy:” he raised $263,000 in the first quarter, and has $375,000 cash on hand. This looks like the Bunning campaign starting to enter a death spiral: perceptions that he can’t win lead to low fundraising, which leads to perceptions that he can’t win (and certainly that’s not helped by polls showing him losing by double digits).
Also, bear in mind this is less than his potential Dem challenger Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo has; Mongiardo raised more than $429,000 last quarter (although Mongiardo will need to spend a lot this year to stay competitive with AG Jack Conway in the primary). And while you might be thinking $263K can still go a long way in a cheap state like Kentucky, that’s not quite true; Kentucky is a very inefficient state for advertising dollars, as you have to pour a lot of money into the Cincinnati and Evansville markets, so blanketing Kentucky costs more than the cost of blanketing some states with significantly larger populations.
Still, Bunning is rich as Croesus compared with fellow Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Coburn reports having raised all of $17,000 in the first quarter, and holds $57,000 cash on hand. While Coburn has been making public noises lately about being unsure about whether to run for re-election (saying yesterday that he was seeking divine guidance on the issue, as well as saying that “Being a doctor is more fun”), these numbers speak pretty loudly on the issue.
It’d be nice if Coburn retires and that is what Brad Henry has been waiting to see or maybe almost just as good, one of the dems in the gov. race decides to switch to the Senate race.
Dude, I will seriously be on the verge of crying if Coburn retires. We need the man in DC. I worry that another sign that Coburn could be retiring is Rep. Cole’s decision not to run for Governor, maybe having an eye on the Senate seat?
Cole would be fine with me, as an Oklahoman, I’ve seen Cole and he is a joke. As far as Brad Henry goes, he won every single one of the 77 counties in Oklahoma in 2006. That is what McCain did in 2008. He is ver popular despit the fact that this state is very deep red. Also he’s a very smart, independent thinking guy. He’s not a blue dog but he’s not a liberal. He’d Warner type from Virginia.
Anyone know hom much Cole has on hand?
But not sure how to find how much he got in Q1 of this year.
but we’ve got two statewide officals running for governor. Might one of them switch after seeing this or if he did retire?
Also, you can do it Jim! Stick with it! Don’t let the man get you down! Fight back!
I know that Andrew Rice is being talked up as a possible candidate in OK-05 for Fallin’s seat as she runs for governor, but what about the Senate race?
admnok: So who is regarded as the worse Senator, Coburn or Inhofe?