Fundraising numbers.

The latest fundraising reports are in for state and federal campaigns. (State campaigns file with the State Board of Elections, federal campaigns file with the Federal Election Commission. The two types of campaigns are held to entirely different laws, file different forms, and generally bear little resemblance to each other. TMYK ★.) Tim Craig runs down the numbers for the Post, though you can see many of them for yourself courtesy OpenSecrets.org and VPAP.

On the U.S. Senate front, Jim Gilmore’s getting beaten like a rented, red-headed, step-child, baby seal. The guy’s self-financing at a rate 10:1 beyond Mark Warner, noted gazillionaire, and has raised about a sixth of what Warner’s raised. The two are pulling in proportionally equal chunks of PAC money vs. individual contributions. (There’s no such thing as contributions from businesses in federal elections, unlike in state elections.) Gilmore took in $250k during the last reporting period (May 21-June 31), while Warner took in $2.9M in the same period. But the real difference is in cash on hand: Warner’s got $5,100,000, while Gilmore has $117,000. Warner has 50x as much money as Gilmore. Stick a fork in him.

The other case that I’m following is the Democratic nomination for governor. (I’m a supporter of Sen. Creigh Deeds, who is my representative.) How much was taken in by upstate delegate Brian Moran is a little unclear to me. His office’s press release says he raised $1.4M, while Deeds’ office’s press release says that Moran “was only able to net about $200,000 according to a news release from his campaign.” This may be explained by Tim Craig, who points out “some of the money had been transferred from an old political account.” Looking at the Moran for Governor PAC on VPAP, $447k in transfers from the old Friends of Brian Moran PAC stands out immediately, though that only explains a third of the discrepancy in the numbers. (For the recording, transferring money between accounts isn’t “income” unless you’re Enron.) The Deeds campaign reports $350,000 raised, which is either 175% better than Moran or 75% worse, depending on who you believe. Deeds’ campaign also points out that over half of their contributions came from people giving under $100, which shows some impressive grassroots support; the Moran campaign didn’t volunteer their ratio.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

One reply on “Fundraising numbers.”

  1. My understanding is that the critical word to make sense of Deeds’ press release is nets. Deeds’ not only removed the $447k in old money from the equation, he also deducts all of Moran’s expenditures to arrive at a net revenue of $200k. If VPAP’s expenditures line items weren’t so weird I’d sit and do the math to make sure that makes sense.

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