Campaign finance reports have just come out for the recalls of the Wisconsin republican senators. While the right-wing Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spins things their own way (Two GOP senators dwarf Democrats' recall campaign funds), a little deeper look into the numbers contains great news.
In the past month, we've outraised FIVE OF THE SIX republican incumbents. And we've got a cash on hand advantage for four of six races.
The republicans have had a big advantage. They started raising money in February, so for the most part their yearly numbers are higher and they should have more cash on hand. But over the past month, we’ve been outraising them. In the table below, there are no numbers for the cash raised over the year because the Democrats have only been raising money during the latest reporting period.
|
Cash raised (year) |
Cash raised
(reporting period)
|
Cash on hand |
District 2 |
|
|
|
Robert Cowles |
$100,521 |
$100,521 |
$62,168 |
Nancy Nusbaum (D) |
|
$177,300 |
$133,682 |
District 8 |
|
|
|
Alberta Darling (R) |
$958,418 |
$536,479 |
$401,382 |
Sandy Pasch (D) |
|
$431,301 |
$216,439 |
District 10 |
|
|
|
Sheila Harsdorf (R) |
$327,733 |
$217,566 |
$141,963 |
Shelly Moore (D) |
|
$236,728 |
$91,587 |
District 14 |
|
|
|
Luther Olsen (R) |
$107,111 |
$72,375 |
$70,656 |
Fred Clark (D) |
|
$225,501 |
$163,197 |
District 18 |
|
|
|
Randy Hopper (R) |
$226,708 |
$24,646 |
92,461 |
Jessica King (D) |
|
$221,932 |
$190,646 |
District 32 |
|
|
|
Dan Kapanke (R) |
$725,913 |
$63,386 |
123,824 |
Jennifer Shilling (D) |
|
$271,385 |
$153,634 |
Let’s go through these race by race.
District 32 – Kapanke/Shilling. Despite spending $611K, Dan Kapanke is still behind by what, 14 points in the PPP poll? His donors have dumped 3/4 of a million dollars down the toilet supporting him. The seem to have realized that he’s a lost cause, he raised less than ¼ of what Shilling did in the last period. As we say around here – Sorry Dan, sucks to be you.
District 18 – Hopper/King. Randy - $24K for the last period vs. King’s $221K? REALLY? Are you even trying? Down 2:1 in cash on hand. Not looking good for the Bed Hopper.
District 14 - Olsen/Clark. Luther Olsen's not doing so well, being outraised in the latest period $72K to $225K? Fred Clark has a 2:1 cash on hand advantage. Time to say good-night, Luther?
District 2 - Cowles/Nusbaum. Cowles didn't even start fundraising until now? What was he, asleep? Well, he got $100K. But Nancy got almost twice as much, and now has - you guessed it - a 2:1 cash advantage. I'm sensing a trend here.
District 10 – Harsdorf/Moore. My district. Shelly Moore started off from nothing, and has had to spend a lot to get off the ground. Still, she outraised Harsdorf by $20K during the period. Harsdorf still maintains a 3:2 lead in cash on hand, but it's still close.
District 8 – Darling/Pasch. Ouch. Not unexpected, Darling represents red suburban Milwaukee, which benefits the most from all the redistribution of wealth (poor to rich) going on in this state. Still, Pasch managed to come close to Darling in the latest reporting period, and raised more than any other Dem candidate.
Of course, these are only direct contributions. On Team Red, we’ve got the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and who knows what other forces of evil that will be spending freely. On Team Blue, we’ve got We Are Wisconsin, a coalition of groups working to help with the recall.
But we're getting support in $10 and $20. We've got the people. We can do this! We still need to work, and I'm still going to ask you to click on the links to donate, or to help out if you are in Wisconsin! You can find a link to all these candidates, plus the three Democratic senators up for recall, here.
We are competitive in all these races. I want to repeat that - WE ARE COMPETITIVE IN ALL THESE RACES. The republicans need to hold four... there's not a one here that they can look at and say it's in the bag for them. In fact, if I were them, I'd be really worried about four of six. And six of six for us is not out of the question!