* State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz announced to her supporters yesterday that she has raised $550,000 for her congressional campaign. That’s lower than I expected. Also keep in mind that we don’t know yet how much of that is for the primary and how much for the general. Why is it lower than expected? Larry explains it well…

[Feigenholtz’s] December 31st report was for $324,000. Meaning since then she has raised about $225,000.

Considering all the time she has put into fundraising and her early numbers, there was an expectation for much bigger numbers in this reporting period.

* Rep. John Fritchey got a late start in this campaign, but appears to be catching up…

John Fritchey’s campaign disclosed today that it has raised between $400,000 and $450,000 since January 1. Campaign Manager Josh Levin says they are still trundling in the sacks and tallying the final amount of their pile.

Larry explains…

[Rep. John Fritchey] has roughly doubled [Feigenholtz’s] take since January 5th. Do the math and they aren’t that far apart. We don’t quite know what the independent expenditures will do, but Fritchey is certainly in a stronger position with this kind of showing.

That independent expenditure thing will be very important if and when it happens. Subscribe to find out why.

* Meanwhile, Rep. Feigenholtz has a new broadcast TV ad. The ad buy is for about $93,000 and has 250 ratings points behind it. It’s running today the 13th through the 19th…

* Rep. Fritchey goes on the air this coming Tuesday with a broadcast TV ad of his own. The ad buy is reportedly $170,250 for about 400 ratings points. It will run February 17-23.

* On another topic, the ground game is getting play in candidate e-mails to supporters. From Mike Quigley yesterday…

In just 25 days, we’ve contacted 41,307 voters.

We did it faster, smarter and cheaper than any of our opponents and we could not have done it without the tremendous outpouring of support you have shown us. Mike has said to us on numerous occasions that he is blessed to have so many great friends and supporters.

From Sara Feigenholtz Wednesday…

And because of YOU, over the last four weeks we’ve made direct contact with over 40,000 registered voters in the 5th Congressional District!

So Quigley’s operation claimed it contacted about the same amount of people over a shorter period of time.

* The Tribune finally notices some of the weird goings-on in the district…

One of the leading Democratic candidates to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress repeatedly declined to say Thursday whether her campaign conducted a phone survey last month in which pollsters raised allegations about foes in the March 3 special primary.

Voters were asked if it would concern them that state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) took campaign contributions from groups the poll alleged were associated with organized crime. The pollsters also attempted to link Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) with County Board President Todd Stroger, whom Quigley often opposes.

The survey concluded with a plug that state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) is an independent champion for women and immigrants. In an appearance before the Tribune’s editorial board Thursday, Feigenholtz was asked at least a half-dozen times about the issue, but would neither confirm nor deny her campaign was behind the negative poll. She maintained she’s running as a reformer.

She was asked a half-dozen times about the poll and refused to answer? Uh-oh.

* The Tribune story also had a bit of hard news…

Also at Thursday’s session, candidate Ald. Patrick O’Connor (40th) said Emanuel phoned him shortly after Obama’s Nov. 4 win and asked him he would be interested in the seat.

O’Connor recalled that he urged Emanuel not to give up his rising congressional career. O’Connor also said Emanuel did not ask him to “hold the seat” for him until he ends his White House tenure.

Whatever O’Connor says, that sure sounds like Rahm wanted a placeholder.

* Watch the Tribune editorial board interview at this link.

The Feigenholtz grilling starts about 53 minutes in. It ain’t pretty. And the Tribsters also made a good point about how she’s not talking to reporters. I’m hearing that a lot. The Trib claims they called “dozens” of times to interview her without success. She’s just far too controlled by her DC-based campaign staff.