It's a sign of the times folks. Democrats in Washington's 4th district are energized and we could very well be getting a early preview of how this contest will match up in fund raising.
From today's Tri-City Herald:
Pasco Democrat George Fearing out-raised U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, during the first quarter in his bid to unseat the seven-term incumbent but still lagged far behind in overall fundraising and cash on hand.
Fearing raised more than $38,000, bringing his campaign total to over $102,000. Fearing had about $36,000 on hand as of March 31.
Hastings raised almost $33,000 for his re-election campaign to bring his campaign total to over $272,000. He had about $227,000 on hand as of March 31.
While Hastings has a large cash on hand advantage, that gap could quickly be closed. Fearing's early fundraising netted over $100k before the end of last March... and that was just to get the campaign on the map with the state party and gain more national attention. But the most promising aspect of the Fearing Campaign's March report was the fact that those dollars were raised from individual donors. Much like the Obama campaign, individual donor's are making a huge difference to the bottom line with many smaller donations.
While the FEC report only shows donor's of $200 or more, of the 37 donors to the Hastings campaign, just nine were individual donors... the rest were either business or PAC. Those donations accounted for nearly $31k of the $33k reported.
Of the 97 who gave to the Fearing Campaign during that same reporting period, all 97 were individual donors.
Democracy is a wonderful thing when people get involved.
No doubt this is good news. But the Fearing Campaign will need a serious presence in name recognition at the polls. To get that recognition, George will need to close the gap. We can make that happen. Individual, small donations are key. There are more of us than there are PAC's. You can make a difference on my Act Blue page right freaking here!