MT-AL: Democrat Rob Quist is definitely kicking Republican Greg Gianforte's butt when it comes to fundraising. New reports were due at the FEC over the weekend detailing both candidates' fundraising between April 1 and May 5, during which time Quist raised $2.3 million, spent $2.4 million, and had $669,000 left ahead of the May 25 special election for Montana's lone congressional seat. Gianforte, meanwhile, brought in just $624,000, shelled out $1.5 million, and had $826,000 in his bank account.
All told, since the start of the campaign in early March, Quist has raised $3.3 million—a stunning sum for such a short time and in such a cheap state—while Gianforte has taken in $2.3 million. The only reason he's been able to keep pace was by lending his campaign an additional $1 million during the most recent reporting period. However, Gianforte's also benefitted from far more outside spending: A recent tally by reporter Mike Dennison of local news station KTVH found that Republican groups, led by the Congressional Leadership Fund, have pumped $3.9 million to aid Gianforte while Democrats have spent just $632,000.
So unless the cavalry comes, the Quist campaign is going to have to make the case against Gianforte mostly by itself. Quist finally went negative last week with a pair of ads attacking Gianforte for trying to block public access to a stream he owns property along, and now, in a new spot, Quist is hitting his opponent for his two-faced comments about the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare.
The ad begins by featuring clips of news reports explaining that Gianforte offered "two different stances to two very different audiences." The narrator doesn't offer any detail on stance number one (basically, Gianforte tried to keep his distance from the legislation) but rips him for stance number two, saying, "Gianforte said he was 'thankful' for a bill that takes away protections for pre-existing conditions and raises premiums—thankful, because he got a huge tax break in return." It's certainly true that the uber-rich Gianforte would benefit handsomely if this bill became law. The question now is whether it's enough to get Montanans to sour on him.