Over the weekend, Bluestem looked separately at the FEC reports for candidates in Minnesota's First Congressional District, and come away with the sense that it's going to take a whole lot of Citizens United mojo to work any magic for either Republican contender's dreams of higher office.
Josh Moniz best sums up the money race in the "All behind in different ways" section Walz raises more than opponents in second quarter:
Parry and Quist have been struggling this campaign to keep up with Walz.
Last quarter, Walz's $217,000 was more than four times the combined total raised by Parry and Quist. This quarter, Walz raised roughly $20,000 over last quarter's total.
Quist's total, which is almost entirely self financed, is still $59,000 behind Walz fundraising, which was mostly direct contributors. Parry's report will have to bring in significant donors to keep the two Republicans close to Walz in direct donors.
Either way, Parry and Quist have been significantly behind Walz's previous Republican challengers in fundraising for the same quarter. In 2010, Randy Demmer raised $304,103. In 2008, Brian Davis raised $296,201.
In addition, Parry and Quist lagged behind campaign totals at this point of prior Walz challengers. Quist is at $218,160, while Demmer was at $375,695 and Davis was at $494,793.
Walz is behind his own prior fundraising. This quarter, he raised $237,605. In 2010, he raised $353,575. In 2008, he raised $432,586. His total raised for the election cycle is essentially on track with prior years.
Go read the whole thing at the Journal and follow @Josh_Moniz if you're on the twitter. Read along with the Post Bulletin's Heather Carlson and Mankato Free Press's Mark Fischenich, he's got the race in the First covered.
Update: In the PB's Political Notebook, Carlson weighs in with Walz campaign war chest continues to grow:
First District Democratic Rep. Tim Walz has a massive cash advantage heading into the November election.
The three-term incumbent raised $237,000 during the second quarter and has $808,000 in the bank, according to a report filed with the Federal Elections Commission. The documents show that Walz has raised a whopping $1.4 million during the campaign cycle for his re-election bid.. . .Parry has the least amount of money of the three candidates, with just shy of $31,000 in cash on hand. He raised more than $52,000 during the second quarter.
Read the entire post at the Post Bulletin.
Another surprising element of the money race in the First? Parry has bragged on his ability to fundraise, but he's near the bottom for major party candidates in any district. Parry's total of $51,961.20 for the quarter is fairly close to those of DFLer Jeff Anderson in the 8th, third place in fundraising in a three-way primary with $50,095.67 raised.
As Bluestem noted back in the January post Emo Senator: Mike Parry said he had no goal for fundraising & he meant every word of it:
When he entered the congressional race in early October, [Mike Parry] told the Mankato Free Press that he didn't have a fundraising plan, but that he felt very good about himself. Veteran political reporter Mark Fischenich wrote in Parry to challenge Walz for Congress:
Parry hasn’t set a goal for campaign donations but said he has strong skills in fundraising.
“I do know that I’m a hard charger. I work from sun-up to sun-down and then some.”
Okay then.
Photo: Nice hat, and the NRA's PAC did chip in some more coin this quarter for Walz.
Related posts: Mike Parry finishes Q2 2012 with $30,608.46 COH
Walz FEC Q2 2012 report: nearly $235,000 raised; over $808,000 cash on hand for general election
A stone path? Between the lines in Quist FEC Q2 2012 report: $4000 to Al Travis Theilfoldt
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