Virginia's first quarter fundraising numbers were just posted.
Cash and in-kind:
Terry McAuliffe raised $4.2 million.
Deeds raised $728,000
Moran raised $807,000
Ok...That was an ass-whooping. Moran and McAuliffe raised about the same from small donors, so whining about small donors won't really make a difference here. As many of you (don't) know, Virginia doesn't have a limit for campaign donations. This means that candidates can (and SHOULD) raise hilariously high amounts of money. Mark Warner did this. Tim Kaine did this. And now Terry McAuliffe is doing it. This is how Democrats win in Virginia.
Now - I was an Obama supporter during the primaries. I found most of Hillary's flaks to be annoying/borderline insane/offensively condescending. Except for Terry. McAuliffe was borderline insane but also hilarious.
The man's zeal for Hillary was frustrating but infectious. No matter how annoyed I was with her campaign, I could always laugh at McAuliffe. He has passion for causes.
He's bringing that passion in unexpected ways to the Virginia Governor's race. He's a hard guy not to like when you're up close to him.
I like Brian Moran. I like Creigh Deeds. But it looks like this primary race is over.
McAuliffe will continue the tradition of a heavily funded top-ticket Virginia Democrat bringing tons of resources to the state party and the lower tier candidates. He seems to have a smart team on board. I'm looking forward to McAuliffe vs McDonnell. The battle of the Mac's.
Cue the comments about Terry being a corporate whore in 5...4...3...2...1!