The early 3rd quarter fundraising numbers are rolling in from the GOP Senate candidates and the ones with the most to crow about are keen to make sure people know just how well the money primary is going.
George Allen’s campaign has “rais[ed] over $900,000 in the last three months. To date, the Allen Campaign has raised $3.5 million and has $1.8 million cash-on-hand to start October.”
Tim Donner’s campaign tells us that it “banked $133,241 and begins the current quarter with a total of $156,000 cash on hand.” Overall, the Donner camp has raised “more than $339,000 in just the two quarters his campaign has been underway.”
Jamie Radtke’s campaign exclaims that is has “achieved its best performance yet in the third-quarter fundraising period, collecting more than $116,000 in donations, bringing the total raised so far to more than $370,000.”
Take all these numbers for what you will. Some will say that Allen’s haul, which dwarfs that of the others, makes this race a done deal. Partisans of Mr. Donner will counter that he’s steadily gaining steam and positioning himself as the legitimate Allen alternative, rather than Radtke. Radtke’s champions will point to the 1700 donors to her effort as proof that she’s building what matters most — an army.
I’m of the camp that believes money primaries matter very little in the end. All that matters is who shows up to vote on primary day. But even before that, as Brian Kirwin continues to remind us, all of these figures mean nothing until the candidates actually get the signatures they need to appear on that primary ballot.
That is the real test of organizational skill.
It will still be interesting to review the complete campaign finance statements at the end of the week to see where all this money is going…and whether there are any lingering debt problems on certain balance sheets.
