Tag: Fundraising

{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

Last cycle, I started an ActBlue page specifically for Democratic Senate candidates working to pick up seats held by Republicans.  I named it the Expand the Map! ActBlue page because the goal was to expand the map of competitive Senate seats.  The effort was a big success, achieving over 300 contributions and $40,000 for the Democratic Senate candidates included on the page.

Today, I kicked off the 2010 edition of the Expand the Map! ActBlue page with three Democratic candidates for Senate: Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes, and Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak.

Click here to visit the Expand the Map! ActBlue page!

In New Hampshire and Missouri, we have the strongest candidates available, candidates who will also make terrific Democratic Senators.  In both races, however, fundraising will always be a top priority.  Missouri Republican Roy Blunt will be able to tap his lobbyist buddies and corrupt cronies for cash ad nauseum.  No doubt the NRSC will also make holding New Hampshire a top priority; and the D.C. GOP establishment has already begun fawning over Palin-esque quitter Kelly Ayotte.  Carnahan and Hodes need our support!  A few years back, all four of New Hampshire’s and Missouri’s combined Senate seats were held by Republicans.  Wouldn’t it feel great to have flipped all four?

In Pennsylvania, y’all know the deal.  Arlen Specter was a Republican Senator for decades.  Even though he changed his Party affiliation, he’s still not a Democrat as far as I’m concerned.  Joe Sestak is a real Democrat, and he – not Specter – should win the Democratic primary.  But Specter has a significant edge when it comes to campaign cash; and, Ed Rendell will do all he can to shut off Sestak’s fundraising.  Let Specter, Rendell, etc. know that they can’t shut down the netroots by supporting Sestak!

Please, please, please help kick off the 2010 cycle’s Expand the Map! effort by sending these highly deserving Democrats a few bucks.  $100 makes a huge difference, $20 makes a huge difference, $10 makes a huge difference!  Hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and make your voice heard.

This is not just a contribution to these Democrats’ campaigns.  This is a contribution toward slowing and eventually stopping Republican obstruction in the U.S. Senate.  Thank you SO much!

This has not been a good past 48 hours for National Republican Campaign Committee chair Pete Sessions. In fact the past two days have been horrible. Perhaps Sessions should fly out to Vegas for one of his risque fundraisers . Badump Tish

First The earmarks flap

Then the recruiting flap where he fails to get top prospect John McKinley to take on Jim Himes (CT-04).

And now we are finding out there are all kinds of holes in his Young Guns Project . Well if you call it Young Guns – not sure that some of his catches count as “Young”.

Keep up the good work Pete and you might be left with just the wignuttiest of the wignuttery in Congress. No complaints here. But the NRCC might want to second guess its decision to put you in charge. Well you are probably taking the rest of the boys to Vegas for another Leadership PAC fundraiser so I’m sure they are just looking forward to a couple of lap dances and craps.

1. Strike One

According to Pete

earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people

So it’s probably no surprise that He doesn’t tell us on his website that in 2008 he steered 1.6 million to a company doing some research on a blimp. The company has no experience in government contracts, no experience in building airships or blimps and it just by the way employed a former Sessions staffer as a lobbyist. And the best part that former staffer turned lobbyist has a criminal record.

Oh and by the way this father son team (The Fergusons) that own this company – contributed $5,000 to Sessions Leadership Pac in 2007.

Wonder if they were at the Vegas Risque fundraiser.

And not only was this former staffer Plesha convicted on a gun charge but he also has a criminal record from some FEC violations related to lying to investigators about creating some false mailers.

Oh and see Pete here while Jeff Flake talks about earmarks today

2. Strike Two

Sessions announced on Tuesday

There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.”

That’s a day before

“Republicans’ hopes of ousting freshman Democrat Jim Himes in Connecticut’s 4th District suffered a serious blow, as heavily recruited GOP state legislator John McKinney has taken himself out of the running.” [CQ Politics, 7/30/09]

Maybe you should be doing more recruiting then Pete.

3. Strike Three

Oh and then we just found out from this article that Sessions thinks that Mississipi State Senator Alan Nunnelee (see below) is running in Alabama against Freshman Parker Griffith (AL-05). h/t to Left in Alabama for this discovery

A few top candidates who entered their races in the last month have yet to be placed on the list but could be soon. Sessions said, for instance, that Alabama state Sen. Alan Nunnelee, who just announced he would challenge Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.), would soon be a part of the program.

Way to be on top of it sport. Nunnelee has announced to run against Blue Dog Travis Childers (MS-01). The one that the NRCC ran the same candidate against in a Special Election and then a few months later again in the General and lost both times.

Not sure that this Nunellee guy (see below) really qualifies as a “Young Gun” either

But as Swing State Project points out that being young is not really a requirement of the “Young Guns” program

And let’s leave aside the issue of calling 62 year-old Steve Pearce and 56 year-old Steve Chabot “Young Guns” for the moment.

You are outtttttttttttt of there buddy. See ya in Vegas.  

Here are the June fundraising numbers for the six major party committees (May numbers are here):

A pretty good month for the DSCC and the DCCC, who now both have more cash in the bank than they owe to creditors for the first time since the election. Keep in mind, though, that these nums are a bit pumped up thanks to a modest fundraiser hosted by Barack Obama last month which took in $3 million for the House and Senate committees.

The second quarter reporting deadline for congressional candidates has now come and gone, so it’s time for SSP to gather up all the noteworthy fundraising numbers for 2010’s hot (and not-so-hot) House races.

Here’s the full chart, but if you see anything we missed, let us know in the comments:

A few quick notes:

• The average amount raised by a Frontline participant was $278K, an improvement over the first quarter, when the average amount raised was $259K.
• The Frontline member with the phattest second quarter haul was Jim Himes’ impressive $518K. The weakest? For the second quarter in a row, it’s Carol Shea-Porter and her $120K raised. Jeez Louise.
• You may vaguely recall that the NRCC started their own copycat version of the DCCC’s Frontline program, titled the “Patriot Program“. Let’s take a look at their first ten participants, a batch that they finally rolled out in May (Lungren, Calvert, Bilbray, Biggert, Cao, McCotter, Paulsen, Lance, Lee and Reichert). Their average haul was $301K each — a big jump from that group’s average 1Q take of $167K. It’s a small group so far, but it appears that the Patriot project is having some effect.
• Democratic challengers who out-raised Republican incumbents: Ami Bera (CA-03), Stephen Pougnet (CA-45), John Carney (DE-AL), and Charlie Justice (FL-10). (However, it must be noted that Justice’s haul was far from impressive.)
• Republican challengers who out-raised Democratic incumbents: Van Tran (CA-47), Greg Ball (NY-19), and Bill Russell (PA-12). (Caveat: Bill Russell is a BMW Direct client, which explains where most of his money is laundered coming from — and going to.)
• Overall, I’m struck by the lackluster sums from many highly-touted candidates on both sides of the aisle. For the Dems, Michael Bond (IL-10), Charlie Justice (FL-10), Paula Flowers (TN-03), and Bill Hedrick (CA-44) in particular will need to step up their game. But many GOP candidates had pretty underwhelming quarters, too: Charles Djou (HI-01), Sid Leiken (OR-04), Jon Barela (NM-01) and Frank Guinta (NH-01) were all well south of $100K this quarter. (If you can’t out-raise Carol Shea-Porter, something is wrong with you.) No doubt the crappy economy is tightening the cash flow for many candidates right now, but these candidates will have to start finding the money sooner rather than later.

A sampling of fundraising reports from across the nation… on your station:

FL-Sen:

     Charlie Crist (R): $3M raised

     Marco Rubio (R): $340K raised

     Kendrick Meek (D): $1.2M raised

     Corrine Brown (D): <$5K raised

KY-Sen:

     Trey Grayson (R): >$600K raised

     Jim Bunning (R-inc): <$600K raised

LA-Sen:

     David Vitter (R-inc): $1.2M raised; $3.2M CoH

AR-02:

     Vic Snyder (D-inc): $0 raised

CO-04:

     Cory Gardner (R): >$200K raised

IL-10:

     Mark Kirk (R-inc): $580K raised, >$1M CoH

TX-10:

     Jack McDonald (D): $322K raised, $550K CoH; $634K CTD

If you see any other numbers floating around, please post ’em in the comments and I’ll update this post accordingly.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems. Here are the May fundraising reports for the six major party committees (April numbers are here):

*Note: The NRSC’s receipts for the month of May include a $1 million transfer from the RNC.

Another day, another hundred thousand dollahs. Here are the April fundraising reports for the six major party committees (March numbers are here):

Still on tap: a joint DSCC/DCCC fundraiser headlined by Barack Obama in June.

Here’s our summary of FEC filings for the quarter that ended on March 30, for the hot Senate races. (House filings are here.) The left column is total receipts for the second quarter. (This is based on slightly different criteria as ‘total raised’ from the House list, as ‘total receipts’ doesn’t include transfers between committees.) The right column is current cash on hand. All dollar amounts are in thousands. Numbers are courtesy of the National Journal, except for John Sharp’s numbers, which come from Burnt Orange Report.

There are a number of announced candidates in interesting races who aren’t included in this table because they formally announced their candidacies either in April or late March so that reporting was not required. This includes Ryan Frazier (CO), Rob Simmons (CT), Jack Conway (KY), Sharron Angle (NV), and Pat Toomey (PA). On the other hand, you’ll see a number of representatives who are likely or potential candidates who haven’t announced, but are included; that’s because their House numbers are public and, if they switch, can be transferred.

State	Candidate	Party	2Q Receipts	CoH
Arizona	McCain	R-inc	$2,557	$4,440
Arkansas	Lincoln	D-inc	$1,722	$2,272
California	Boxer	D-inc	$905	$4,622
California	DeVore	R	$132	$48
Colorado	Bennet	D-inc	$1,426	$1,346
Connecticut	Dodd	D-inc	$1,049	$1,388
Connecticut	Caligiuri	R	$45	$36
Delaware	Castle	R	$75	$842
Florida	Rubio	R	$255	$212
Florida	Meek	D	$1,513	$1,678
Florida	Gelber	D	$363	$296
Illinois	Burris	D-inc	$0.845	$0.845
Illinois	Giannoulias	D	$1,145	$1,123
Illinois	Kirk	R	$696	$598
Kentucky	Bunning	R-inc	$263	$376
Kentucky	Mongiardo	D	$430	$389
Louisiana	Vitter	R-inc	$740	$2,536
Louisiana	Melancon	D	$187	$912
Missouri	Blunt	R	$560	$674
Missouri	Carnahan	D	$1,048	$928
Nevada	Reid	D-inc	$2,234	$5,053
Nevada	Heller	R	$96	$178
New Hampshire	Sununu	R	$0	$97
New Hampshire	Hodes	D	$302	$261
New York	Gillibrand	D-inc	$2,347	$2,203
New York	Israel	D	$282	$1,723
New York	Maloney	D	$427	$1,339
New York	McCarthy	D	$150	$262
New York	King	R	$131	$1,127
North Carolina	Burr	R-inc	$703	$1,626
North Carolina	McIntyre	D	$64	$633
Ohio	Portman	R	$1,705	$3,042
Ohio	Fisher	D	$1,036	$1,017
Ohio	Brunner	D	$207	$193
Oklahoma	Coburn	R-inc	$17	$57
Pennsylvania	Specter	R-inc	$1,277	$6,736
Pennsylvania	Luksik	R	$11	$3
Pennsylvania	Sestak	D	$550	$3,343
Pennsylvania	Schwartz	D	$379	$2,146
Pennsylvania	Torsella	D	$597	$584
Texas	Williams	R	$348	$388
Texas	Shapiro	R	$34	$210
Texas	Sharp	D	$2,517 *	$2,433
Texas	White	D	$1,876	$2,132
Wisconsin	Feingold	D	$720	$2,758

Which incumbent raised the most? Kristen Gillibrand, unsurprisingly (given her monster fundraising reputation, her expensive state, and the likelihood of a serious primary challenge), followed by Harry Reid and Blanche Lincoln, both acting quickly to squelch any notions of a serious GOP challenge.

But which non-incumbent raised the most? Rob Portman led the GOP with $1.7 million, and Kendrick Meek has been busy with $1.5 million. But the winner is a Democratic candidate who is under the radar, in a race that or may not actually exist: Houston mayor Bill White, who is raising for a hypothetical special election for a seat vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. (UPDATE: Former Texas comptroller and fellow imaginary senate candidate John Sharp reported an even larger amount in receipts, although he gets an asterisk because $515K was contributions and the rest was self-loaned.)

March fundraising reports for the six major party committees:

Note that the DNC figure includes a $2 million transfer from the Obama campaign, which makes their March intake not so impressive compared to the RNC. (Say what you will about Michael Steele, but fundraising does not seem to be suffering too badly under his watch.) Spending tallies for the two Senate committees are also currently unavailable.

Once again the story continues to be the rather portly levels of debt held by the Dem House and Senate committees, which in aggregate are just over three times as large as the combined NRCC/NRSC debts. But the Democratic committees should be able to balance the books sooner rather than later — especially with a major June fundraiser headlined by President Obama on the horizon.

The FEC’s April 15th deadline for candidates to file their first quarter fundraising reports has come and gone, and now it’s SSP’s turn to rake together all the interesting numbers for House incumbents and the (very few) challengers who have filed.

As always, all numbers are in thousands and are adjusted for rounding. “CoH” indicates cash-on hand, and the “Raised” column contains strictly funds raised through donor contributions, not loans. An “X” in the “Frontline” column indicates a Democratic incumbent’s participation in the DCCC’s Frontline program.

A few quick notes:

• The average amount raised by a Frontline participant was $255K, with each member having an average CoH of $269K.
• The biggest raiser of the Frontline class was John Adler, who raked in $461K. The weakest? Carol Shea-Porter, who only took in $111K. She never makes our lives easy…
• Challengers who outraised incumbents: Beth Krom (D, CA-48), Steve Chabot (R, OH-01) and Jack McDonald (D, TX-10).
• Fuel for the retirement watch: Check out the weak hauls of GOP Reps. Henry Brown ($22K), Frank Wolf ($2K) and Bill Young ($1K). Delaware’s Mike Castle will want to pump up the volume now that he’s facing a top-tier challenger, but he’s also sitting on a fairly hefty war chest.
• ID-01: Bill “Brain Fade” Sali, who is supposedly mulling a rematch with Democrat Walt Minnick, brought in nothing — and he’s still carrying about $100,000 worth of debts from his previous two campaigns. Not exactly an encouraging sign for those of us who love to have Sali to kick around.
• LA-02: Joe Cao raises $143K, but only banks $61K at the end of the quarter. Not impressive at all — but even if he was raking in Mark Kirk-like sums per quarter, he’d still lose. So what’s the point?