In the Mankato Free Press report, Walz stuffs war chest, there's a sentence about Davis's first quarter fundraising:
Dr. Brian Davis, the Rochester physician who received the Republican Party endorsement on March 29, said he generated $59,000 in the first quarter and has about $50,000 in cash on hand.
We're rather surprised at the figures. The entire take is less than Walz's quarter total of unitemized contributions from individuals who each gave less than $200. (Walz report here).
Moreover, Davis had $84,901.03 cash-in-hand at the close of 2007, after raising $59,302.13 in contributions during Q4 2007. Although the endorsement came late in the quarter, contributors still had several days to donate, and it's noteworthy that Davis didn't experience a big bump from getting the party's nod.
In the first quarter of 2006, an equivalent point in the last election cycle, Walz raised $127,024.15 and had $124,452.29 in the bank. Unlike this year, few outside observers considered the 2006 race competitive at the time.
The Post Bulletin's Political Party blog reported earlier that primary challenger Dick Day has not raised much:
Day said he raised about $25,000 for the first quarter but did not pursue donors aggressively because the state Senate is still in session. He said he was uncomfortable meeting with donors before adjournment in mid-May. . . .
Good for Day for having some scruples. While Minnesota law doesn't regulate legislators from taking contributions for federal races, it does prevent them from taking contributions for state-level campaigns from lobbyists and PAC during the session.
In the 2000 race for the DFL nomination in the Fourth, prompted by the late Bruce Vento's retirement, state senator Steve Novak was called on to the carpet by Common Cause for the legal, but ethically questionable move of taking over $40,000 during the session from lobbyists and PAC with business before the committee he chaired. Betty McCollum, who was then in the state house, refrained from taking any such contributions during the session.
We're curious to see how Randy Demmer's fundraising went.
Comments