The ol’ switcheroo
Monday, Jan 28, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is one of the older tricks in the political playbook…
[GOP Congressional candidate Chris Lauzen] won the fundraising battle in the third quarter, raising $536,505 and thereby beating Oberweis at his own game.
Much of that money consisted of a $324,750 loan from Lauzen himself that he took out Sept. 27 — just three days before the reporting period ended. Curiously, he repaid that loan Oct. 1, which begs the question: Why did he need the loan? To maintain the appearance of being able to keep up with a man he accuses of buying the election with “big money and big insider establishment clout?”
Yep. That would be the answer. He wanted it to look like he had the personal finances to keep up with Oberweis. But then he repaid the loan a few days later, so he apparently doesn’t have the bucks to spend.
* Meanwhile…
Fundraising slowed in the fourth quarter for Jay Footlik in his bid to win the Democratic nomination in the 10th Congressional District.
Footlik… raised about $130,000 since Oct. 1 and had about the same amount on hand, according to the federal report he filed. Footlik, who returned home to the suburbs to run for Congress, had raised about a half-million relatively quickly last year.
His primary opponent, Dan Seals, had nearly five times that for the stretch run leading up to the Feb. 5 election.
* And…
In the world of campaign finance, money is often the barometer of strength.
By those terms and based on latest financial reports, Aaron Schock is looking like Superman compared to his opponents, having raised more than $800,000 for his congressional campaign to date with more fundraisers already planned. And John Morris, a professional fundraiser by trade, has raised just more than half that amount, nearly exclusively in individual contributions.
Jim McConoughey, on the other hand, raised only about $121,000 and is indebted to himself to the tune of about $270,000. He’s got $47,000 cash on hand, but about $44,000 in outstanding bills.
* More congressional stories, compiled by Kevin…
* Campaign director would pick Lauzen
* 14th Congressional District starting from scratch
* A rosy Rose Bowl remembrance
* 6th Dist. candidates talk economy
* Walls seeks No. 1 spot in the 1st
* In Illinois, Super Tuesday Will Be Even Bigger
* NARAL mailer blasting Congressman Lipinski
- romeosatan - Monday, Jan 28, 08 @ 10:10 am:
You may want to post and highlight with a comment the article by Wally Haas in the Rockford Register star Opinions section on Sunday talking about how the Blagoyavich Administration is killing Not-For-Profits because of the State’s cash flow problems created by his stupid policies. It is titled “Deadbeat stste hurts hospitals, agencies”.
Also, keep your eyes open for the future announcement by the State that revenues are not matching expectations from their phony budget they sold to the general Assembly. Wisconsin has already recognized this problem, but don’t expect the Illinois Governor’s Office to start doing anything until they are forced to, and then they’ll pass the buck to the General Assembly.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Jan 28, 08 @ 10:16 am:
Money is not the barometer of political strength, but it is a method in determining how hard candidates are working towards their election. The exception to this are those candidates whom are self funded and don’t need to work hard in defining their beliefs enough to collect campaign cash from voters.
You will notice that self funded candidates are a sloppier regarding their message. This is because they do not need to hone a winning message by speaking to thousands of voters and convincing them to support them. Instead they hire marketers and political hacks that are supposed to do this for them and report these results. But the people who do this for a living are not the ones running for office, so they do not have a personal commitment to a message and are not focused on securing voter’s confidences through their interviews. Instead they are focused on an ‘answer’ to justify their salaries.
Self funding candidates are at a disadvantage if an electorate expects personal contact. These candidates hide behind their personal wealth and become disconnected. These candidates believe that television ads and campaign paraphernalia strategically executed will trump personal contact.
The bottom line is that we all lose when individuals seeking election feel it is unnecessary to tie fund raising with voter contact or believe it is unnecessary to fund raise at all. Even if elected, these candidates are not intimately aware of voter’s thoughts and are divorced from the political realities within their voter base.
Fund raising is a good thing that forces candidates to craft powerful campaign messages which are the results of thousands of voter interactions. Every dollar collected means something if you try to be the best candidate you can be. $500,000 from 10,000 individuals is better than $500,000 from your family trust fund.
If you do not want to fundraising, do not run for an office which requires money to campaign for it.
- Wumpus - Monday, Jan 28, 08 @ 11:10 am:
In defense of Lauzen..it is hard to fight crazy, especially rich and crazy