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WHAT THE 2009 FUNDRAISING TOTALS MEAN
By Luke Hellier | January 30, 2010
Yesterday was a full of candidates releasing their fundraising totals through 2009. Most candidates for Governor have now released their fundraising totals except former Senator Mark Dayton. The official deadline is Monday.
Each campaign spent most of the afternoon spinning and shaping their message around the numbers released. No other campaign besides Mayor RT Rybak tried harder to mold their report into a positive message. Rybak worked so hard, that the Star Tribune* took the bait. The Star Tribune listed Rybak as the money leader in a recent article however leaving out the fact that his numbers not only include money raised in 2009, but also dollars picked up early in 2010.
To compare his totals against any other candidate, Republican or Democrat, is completely worthless because it doesn’t look at the whole picture. In fact, two key components were left out in the Strib story. First, Rybak started 2009 with only $25,000 with cash on hand. Second the fact that his campaign was penalized $26,500 for illegally using his mayoral cash to poll on a potential Governor’s race was not included.
Any amount released as “raised” by Rybak in 2009 should not include that repayment to his other campaign account.
There is another way to look at the numbers and ninety-nine percent of the time I will never reference to a post by the Minnesota Progressive Project. But in this case, writer Joe Bodell has broken down an “apples to apples” account of fundraising totals in the Governor’s race.
The key component here is how much money each candidate raised per month.
In the end, both Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and former Minority Leader Marty Seifert were the clear winners in last year’s money chase.
But the real number that matters on January 1, 2010 is cash on hand. The money the candidates raise and spend in the next 90 days will make or break their chances on their party’s respective endorsements. This number will be revealed Monday when the reports appear on the Campaign Finance Board’s website.
Congressional Races
Furthermore, the Strib makes the point that Rep. Bachmann’s fiery rhetoric caused her to bring in over $1m in 2009 is quite a stretch. Rep. Erik Paulsen,a first term Republican, almost matched Bachmann dollar for dollar in 2009 and doesn’t have nearly the national profile of Rep. Bachmann.
The real story is that the three Republican members of the Minnesota delegation are far and away above their opponents as Democrats have failed to recruit candidates that fit the district.
In the Second Congressional District, Democrats recruited two light weight candidates, Dan Powers and former Rep. Shelly Madore. Madore has significant name recognition over Dan Powers, but neither stands a chance against Congressman John Kline.
For the Third Congressional District, Republican Erik Paulsen put together a war chest of over $1.2m through 2009. Paulsen’s ability to reach across the aisle and to be a leader on conservative issues has connected with constituents as well as donors. The Third District, which was named by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a “Race to Watch in 2010” has been a complete failure for the Democrats. Both announced candidates, Dr. Maureen Hackett and lobbyist Jim Meffert, failed to stoke any support, from anyone.
Meffert a lobbyist and head of the Edina PTA raised a paltry $47,000. Most of his donations came from other people in the industry he lobbies, optometry and over 20% of his total donations came from Matt Entenza and Lois Quam. For Hackett, she reported raising $138,000 of which $103,000 was either a candidate loan or donation.
Finally, in the Sixth District, second term Republican Michele Bachmann raised nearly $1.3m. Her opponents, State Senator Tarryl Clark and Dr. Maureen Reed combined for roughly over a $1m. The Star Tribune is quick to point out that Bachmann’s opponents together raised almost the same amount of cash. However, most of that money came from Reed’s personal connections as a medical doctor and not necessarily a movement of angry Democrats to beat on Bachmann. If Clark wins the primary, don’t expect many of Reed’s donors to join her campaign. If Reed wins the primary, I would absolutely expect Clark’s supporters to back Reed.
Special Interest Groups
Monday is the deadline for campaigns and PACs to report their totals from 2009. The few organizations to watch will be Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, NRA, Win Minnesota, and the Republican & Democratic House Campaign Committees.
Win Minnesota is a new DFL Political Action Committee led by former Mike Hatch campaign manager Ken Martin. They will spend a significant amount of money in the 2010 cycle and possibly even in the DFL primary.
Check back to MDE next week for more information on the candidate and PAC money race.
*Since this report was written the Star Tribune edited their story after leaving out Matt Entenza’s numbers and modifying Rybak’s report.
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February 2nd, 2010 at 8:46 AM
[...] mentioned on MDE, over the weekend there were several things to look for in these reports. The first being WIN Minnesota a PAC run [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:46 AM
[...] mentioned on MDE, over the weekend there were several things to look for in these reports. The first being WIN Minnesota a PAC run [...]