Capitol View: July 15, 2011 Archive

Fundraising numbers dribble out

Posted at 11:50 AM on July 15, 2011 by Brett Neely (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Campaign 2012: U.S. Senate, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, U.S. House, U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON - Happy Federal Election Commission fundraising filing deadline day!

We don't have all the numbers on how much the various presidential, senatorial and congressional campaigns have brought in, but we'll update this post as more results come in.

Presidential

Michele Bachmann - CBS reports that the Stillwater Congresswoman has raised $4 million since officially announced her bid for the White House last month. We're trying to confirm those numbers with the campaign. The CBS report says $2 million came from donors and the other $2 million was transferred from Bachmann's congressional campaign account. While $2 million in less than a month is nothing to sneeze at, there had been speculation that Bachmann's haul was likely to be far bigger and the Washington Post's conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin deemed the figure mediocre.

UPDATE: Bachmann's campaign announced that she's raised $4.2 million in the past quarter, although it didn't break out how much came before and after Bachmann's June 12th official announcement that she was entering the race. The campaign says Bachmann had more than 88,000 donors who gave an average of $48. Her war chest holds $3.6 million.

Tim Pawlenty - The former governor's campaign had reported two weeks ago that it raised $4.2 million over the past three months. Today, they're saying that when they counted every penny in the piggy bank, it was actually $4.5 million with $2 million cash on hand. Just $600,000 of the money is dedicated to the general election, should Pawlenty win the Republican primary. That puts Pawlenty even with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) but both are still far behind Mitt Romney, who brought in over $18 million in the same period.

Senate

Amy Klobuchar - As reported earlier this week, Klobuchar raised $1.1 million for her reelection bid and has more than $3 million in the bank.

Dan Severson - The only declared GOP opponent for Klobuchar's seat raised just $3,600 in the past quarter. If that fundraising pace continues, next year's Senate election could look like the short film Bambi meets Godzilla.

Congress

Jeff Anderson - Anderson, a city council member in Duluth, is one of three DFLers who have already declared their intent to run against Republican Chip Cravaack in the 8th Congressional District. His campaign has raised $30,000 so far and has $27,000 in the bank.

Lee Byberg - Republican Byberg lost to DFLer Collin Peterson last year. This time around, his FEC filing shows that Byberg raised $40,000 in the past quarter and has $42,000 cash on hand. One challenge for Byberg, his campaign still has $77,000 in debt from the election cycle.

Tarryl Clark - Former State Rep. Clark took on - and lost to - Michele Bachmann in the 6th District last year. Although Clark went down in flames, she raised $5 million in the most expensive House race last year. Now, she's moved to Duluth and plans to challenge newcomer Rep. Chip Cravaack. Clark's campaign says she raised over $140,000 since declaring her bid two months ago and has $130,00 cash on hand.

Chip Cravaack - Freshman Republican Rep. Cravaack is likely to face a very tough re-election campaign in the 8th District. So far, we've gotten no answer from his campaign about their fundraising, but last quarter's results were not terribly strong given the amount of money Democrats are likely to pour into the race. UPDATE Cravaack's campaign raised nearly $224,000 and has almost $269,000 cash on hand. As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Cravaack has drawn interest from many lobbyists and trade associations related to industries that do business with the committee. Cravaack pulled in more than $76,000 from political action committees.

Randy Lee Demmer - Republican Demmer challenged DFL Rep. Tim Walz in the 1st District last year and lost. Demmer's in the race again this year but so far has raised just $1,600 and his campaign is still buried under $93,000 in debt from last year.

Keith Ellison - As yet, there's no response from the DFL Congressman's campaign. UPDATE: Minneapolis Congressman Keith Ellison's campaign raised $233,000 last quarter. The DFLer's campaign bank account now holds $169,000.

John Kline - The Republican chair of the House Education and Workforce committee hasn't yet announced his campaign's fundraising totals. UPDATE: The 2nd District Republican Congressman's campaign raised $327,000 this quarter and has $583,000 cash on hand. As the new chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Kline's fundraising base has expanded considerably in the past year and a closer look at those numbers will probably reveal many out of state donors.

Betty McCollum - DFLer McCollum's campaign reports raising $114,000 last quarter, with $108,000 cash on hand. McCollum has a very safe DFL seat in St. Paul and is not expecting a serious challenge. Still, her campaign is about to get a big fundraising boost when McCollum's close ally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, holds a fundraiser in Minnesota this weekend for McCollum and other Democrats.

Erik Paulsen - Paulsen's campaign says its results will be out later this afternoon. UPDATE: 3rd District Congressman Erik Paulsen's campaign raised $396,000 last quarter and now has $676,000 in the bank. That's in line with his strong fundraising performance in the first quarter and may scare away some potential DFL challengers.

Collin Peterson - The powerful ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee raised $161,000 in the past three months. Over $126,000 of those funds came from political action committees associated with various agricultural companies and trade associations. Peterson's campaign war chest now has $581,000 in it.

Lynne Torgerson - Tea party Republican Torgerson challenged DFLer Ellison in last year's election and says she plans to run against him again in his heavily Democratic Minneapolis district. So far, she's pulled in less than $3,000.

Tim Walz - We've asked the 1st District DFL Congressman's campaign for an update but haven't heard back yet. UPDATE:
Walz's campaign announced that the 1st District Congressman raised $380,000 for his reelection. He'll need it, as Republicans have repeatedly tried to oust the DFLer since Walz first took the seat in 2006. Walz has $397,000 on hand.

A quick note on why these numbers matter. Fundraising shows how much support candidates have and what kind of resources they'll be able to deploy during their campaigns. Further, we can tell from the mix of small donors and large donors whether the candidate has a lot of interest from the grassroots versus wealthier donors who can write big checks.

We'll do more in-depth analysis over the coming weeks.

Pawlenty echoes Bachmann on debt ceiling

Posted at 4:25 PM on July 15, 2011 by Brett Neely (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty

WASHINGTON - Echoing Minnesota's other Republican presidential candidate, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty questioned whether a failure to raise the national borrowing limit would lead to a default.

Pawlenty made his remarks at a Friday luncheon hosted by Bloomberg View. MPR News has requested audio or video from the event but multiple attendees have written about the candidate's remarks.

According to Josh Marshall, publisher of the web site Talking Points Memo, when asked whether a default would have negative economic repercussions, Pawlenty reportedly said, "Maybe not ... We don't know."

His remarks echo those Bachmann made Wednesday at a Capitol Hill press conference. She said then, "it is simply not true," that failing to raise the debt ceiling would lead to a default.

As federal budget expert Stan Collender explained to MPR News yesterday, the consequences of missing the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt limit would make the 2008 financial crisis, "look like child's play."

Pawlenty even went a step further than Bachmann's comments in his talk at the Bloomberg View event. When pressed by participants, the former governor reportedly said he would prefer a default to any increase in government revenue.

He was also quoted by Bloomberg News as saying that in the event of a default, outside creditors, including foreigners, should be repaid first, followed by the military.

Pawlenty condemned a compromise put forward by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, that would allow a debt ceiling increase, calling it a "Band-Aid on a broken bone," according to Bloomberg.