A Republican friend in the First pointed out that while the percentage of the vote received by Walz's challenger fell within the range of that received by all but one of those pachyderms seeking DFL-held seats, their fundraising was far less successful than that of the Davis campaign.
We had our doubts about that observation, but a look at both voting and fundraising clearly shows our ever-reliable and right-ward acquaintance to be on the money once again. While the post-general reports of spending aren't due until December 4, the pre-election reports back up his analysis.
In the First, Davis raised $1,007,622 by October 15; he received 32.93 percent of the vote. By the time of the same pre-general report, Walz had raised $2,676,831.
While the money gap of 1:2.6 may seem large, it's dwarved by those between Republican challngers and DFL incumbents, all but one of whom received between 27.67 to 32.21. In short, the rest of the GOP contenders received a much higher return on the Republican dollar.
Ed Mathews raised $82330 by the same date, to get 31.31 percent of the vote in the Fourth. DFL incumbent Betty McCollum had raised $684,485.
Glen Menze raised under $2000.00 in the 7th to get 27.67 percent of the vote. Powerful House ag chair Collin Peterson had netted $1,100,084 for the cycle up to October 15.
Michael Cummins raised $15,805 in the 8th to 32.21 percent of the vote, providing another sharp contrast with a house committee chair. Oberstar had collected $1,909,961 for the cycle by the close of the pre-election reporting period.
Only Barbara Davis White felling far behind the pack in garnering votes, having raised $58,491 in the heavily Democratic Fifth to get 22 percent of the vote, while incumbent Keith Ellison had raised $1,410,850.
By way of contrast, all of the DFL challengers--though unsuccessful--received at least 40 percent, while raising larger campaign war chests. Steve Sarvi, who faced the greatest money gap, but no Independence Party challenger, received 42.55 of the vote. Well-funded Ash Madia drew less, at 40.85 percent, with El Tinklenberg drawing 43.43 percent; both faced a three-person race with IP candidates on the ballot.
Sarvi raised $483,469 for the cycle as of October 15; Madia had total receipts of $2,302,958; The Tink had raised $1,110,978 by the same time. Among the Republicans, John Kline raised $1,392,021 for the cycle by October 15; Erik Paulsen had raised $2,425,791in total receipts; Michele Bachmann had pocketed $2,509,179 for the cycle by the end of thereporting period. . We expect the post-general figures for both parties' candidates in the Third and Sixth to rise considerably.
We can see that Davis's fundraising was in the league of failed DFL congressional bids, while his campaign enjoyed about the same dismal results at the polls as other unsuccessful Republicans with far less coin. Readers can draw their own conclusions about the meaning of that fact.
(All the election figures here are unofficial numbers from queries of the SOS election results database this afternoon, and may change as the official tally is reported).
How about a little Steve Wonder for a numb November day?
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