Former Gov. Tim Kaine boasted a strong second quarter of fundraising. The campaign disclosed that since April 5 more than 4,600 supporters have contributed approximately $2.25 million dollars.
“We are pleased with how many people are responding to this campaign in its first weeks,” said Brandi Hoffline, Kaine’s spokeswoman.
Of course, the Allen campaign – who more or less has been running against Kaine instead of four other Republicans in the field – was a bit less enthusiastic about Kaine’s haul.
“As expected, liberal special interests have begun lining up to support and fund Chairman Kaine’s campaign, including more than half a million dollars from the liberal website ActBlue alone,” said Bill Riggs, Allen’s spokesman.
Indeed, special interests can and will fund Kaine’s campaign, but is targeting ActBlue the right idea?
Around the Bearing Drift water-cooler this morning, we openly wondered whether the Allen response is a bit misguided, considering ActBlue’s role is to be a medium for online giving from individual donors. It’s not, exactly, a special interest group, such as MoveOn.org or the Sierra Club. It’s a tool for liberal donors – an idea we certainly should also use for conservatives.
The more cogent attack should be, “Is that the best you could do?”
Kaine, who is alone in the field, a former DNC chair, and governor of Virginia, could only muster 4000 donors? What will happen if Congressman Bobby Scott decides to enter the fray?
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In somewhat related info, our friend, Rick Sincere, had the chance to interview Kaine [1] this weekend in Crozet. We’re looking forward to our chance!