Tea party Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, NY-25, got a photo atop a Politico story, which is normally a good thing, especially for an otherwise undistinguished freshman.
Well, this was not a good story for Buerkle, since she was the No. 1 loser in the first-quarter fundraising race, which the story was about.
More, below.
Buerkle evidently did the worst in first-quarter fundraising, adding just $65,000 to her campaign coffers.
Most concerning to Republicans: Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, the nurse who became assistant New York attorney general before coming to Washington, raised just $65,000 despite occupying a Democratic-leaning upstate New York seat that could become a target in redistricting.
Buerkle will probably be redistricted into a district that will have another incumbent, and she knows that.
So, it appears she has either basically given up or does not know how important fundraising numbers are to perceptions of her political future.
Which would be a rookie mistake.
The article also notes measly numbers (in the $111K to $121K range) for three other members of the tea party Class of 2010, and implies that that shows political/electoral weakness.
Tea party Rep. Chris Gibson, NY-20, should have been mentioned in the story -- he raised just $142K, and used a good bit of that to repay to himself a $50K loan from the 2010 campaign.
Leaving his net in the five-figures.
Both Buerkle and Gibson have cash on hand of just over $100K -- better than nothing, but not by much, given that effective re-election campaigns will cost 10 or 20 times that much.
With redistricting sure to change NY-25 and NY-20, the incumbents will need even more money than usual to introduce themselves to people who are not current constituents.
Buerkle and Gibson have, so far, not risen to that basic political challenge.