Update 12/16/2008: The news of El's cash-on-hand, from a report filed with the FEC on December 4, has been noticed this morning on several blogs in the Twin Cities. We took moment this morning to post our observations about The pace of life on rural blogs: Tinklenberg's war chest [end 12/16/2008 update].
Several of Minnesota's congressional candidates have filed their post-election reports with the FEC. In Congressman Walz's filing, we find that the re-election committee spent $2,844,145.73 and closed with a mere $59,965.27 cash on hand on November 24.
Brian Davis's committee has yet to file its report, due tomorrow. We're curious to see if he spent most of his committee's treasury on the campaign for election, or withheld enough money to pay back the candidate's loans to his campaign.
Update: Davis's post general report has been filed. On November 20, the committee indeed paid back the $124,000 that Davis had lent to it.
The committee ended up spending $896,704.35 while taking in receipts of $1,093,808.17. Davis had $5871.60 in his committee's treasury at the close oft he reporting period on November 25. [end update.]
The reports from the hotly-contested Third district help put the Walz figure into perspective. Winner Erik Paulsen spent $2,614,963.84 and had $108,154.18 remaining in the bank. Ashwin Madia went through $2,622,768.64, with $43,997.98.
These sums do not reflect independent expenditures, of which there were much in the Third, but very little at all in the First.
The Republicans started the cycle with high hopes for recovering the seat, which was considered highly competitive in 2007, hopes that were given national attention early in in late March 2008 as well. By the time of the election, however, the outcome wasn't wasn't considered particularly newsworthy, surprising or noteworthy, as Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier noted in a comment here earlier this week.
Pick your adverb + adjective combo of choice for describing the outcome of the Walz-Davis-Mikkelson romp of 2008. Any one of the three provided by Dr. Ostermeier is adequate.
Update #2: Tim Walz raised a total of $2820562.39 for the cycle. Sixth District DFL candidate El Tinklenberg's cash total outshines Walz, though not his spending:
| CASH SUMMARY | |||
| 23. Cash On Hand At Beginning Of Reporting Period | 291227.33 | ||
| 24. Total Receipts This Period (line 16) | 1854208.35 | 2952575.02 | 12546.85 |
| 25. Subtotal (23 + 24) | 2145435.68 | ||
| 26. Total Disbursements This Period (line 22) | 1661805.31 | 2259303.30 | 222188.20 |
| 27. Cash On Hand At Close Of The Reporting Period (25 - 26) | 483630.37 | ||
We're curious to see how that compares to Missy Bachmann's gathering and spending. Nice war chest Tinklenberg acquired.
Update #3 Congresswoman Bachmann makes all of the gentlemen above look like a bunch of pikers, in that she raised (and spent) 3.5 million:
| CASH SUMMARY | |||
| 23. Cash On Hand At Beginning Of Reporting Period | 1171913.15 | ||
| 24. Total Receipts This Period (line 16) | 1001572.28 | 3508183.12 | -25.00 |
| 25. Subtotal (23 + 24) | 2173485.43 | ||
| 26. Total Disbursements This Period (line 22) | 2142983.17 | 3534821.14 | 104175.49 |
| 27. Cash On Hand At Close Of The Reporting Period (25 - 26) | 30502.26 | ||
So Davis left $124,000 on the table so he could pay himself back? I hope that little gem will stop the Davis Kool Aid drinkers from whining about how he was so outspent in the general election. 124 grand buys a lot of cable ads.
Until Republicans do some soul searching about the Davis "experiment," they will continue to lose in landslides in the First District.
Posted by: Chris | December 04, 2008 at 07:35 PM