Special note August 9, 2008: On August 9, The Winona Daily News posted a letter by Rosemary Zemlo that begins with the exact same first paragraph as the letter below--and scrubbed the original link used for this post. We are working to discover whether the paper published the exact same letter twice online and in print. Since we didn't preserve a copy of the entire July 26 LTE, we've asked friends in Winona to check it out for us. If the letters are the same or vary, we'll update this note as soon as we know, and update this note and the Aug. 9 post as well.
Whatever the case may be, the first paragraphs of both Zemlo LTEs are exactly the same, and our point about her misleading claim about fundraising in Minnesota's First congressional district stands.
We do not know why the Winona Daily News would scrub its online archives of its original posting of the letter, as the paper maintains exhaustive online archives. To do so is not the Lee Media paper's standard practice so far as we know.
In the meantime, we're leaving the post below stand, including the now-dead link to the original July 26 Zemlo letter [end special note].
Loyal readers--and our visits from the Republican camps--know that we've been documenting the horse apples tossed out by Brian Davis and his supporters.
Today's LTE from Rosemary Zemlo in the Winona Daily News is but one more meadow muffin:
This is in response to a recent letter saying that Brain Davis has no grassroots support and had incorrect figures on his fundraising. Davis is the strongest second quarter fundraiser of all candidates seeking election to Minnesota’s 1st District. From April 1 to June 30, contributions from individuals to Davis’s campaign were over $268,000. Tim Walz’s campaign continues to be funded by special interest PACs from outside the state of Minnesota. . . .
The facts speak otherwise (we've posted the detailed summaries from the FEC here, along with links to the FEC reports).
Davis was not the strongest fundraiser in MN-01. Walz raised $438,086.97; Davis raised $291,601.05 ($2070.50 of which he contributed), then loaned his campaign $100,000 on the last day of the quarter.
Walz was also the champ in individual contributions, both in total dollars and numbers of contributors. Among those giving contributions over $200, more people living in the First Congressional district gave to Walz than to Davis.
Period. This is a matter of public record.
Congressman Walz's campaign raised more than $306,000 from individuals, of which $ 97617.24 came from individual contributors who gave under $200. Davis only received $29,709.55 total in small contributions.
When we took our glance at the contributor lists, this is what we found from analyzing the FEC reports:
[Walz] bested Davis by $38,000, but the giving behind those figures reveals an important, wider gap in terms of grassroots support. Walz's total take of large, itemized contributions, $209,103.35 is smaller than Davis's, but Walz's haul came from over twice the number of transactions, 500.
"Transactions" don't equal number of individuals, but it's clear that more people are giving to Walz in this category. There also look to be more First District residents on Walz's list of large contributors than on Davis's.
This difference is far more striking in what we can extrapolate from Walz's small contribution total: $97,617.24,over three times the amount of small contributions that Davis took in ($29,709.55).
Walz can rightfully claim the grassroots advantage in this race, both in terms of total dollars and total donors.
Did Walz receive more PAC money? Yes--but at $124,000.00, the sum was less than half of the money for individuals. Put simply: Walz outraised Davis in money received from individuals and from PACs. Davis got more money from his party (biggest check from the NRCC in Washington DC) and from himself.
Does everyone who comes into close contact with Davis lose the ability to state simple facts?
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