Today is the filing deadline for Maine candidates, and the details of their reports have already begun circulating. Candidates are required to file the June pre-election semiannual report if the candidate raises or spends more than a total of $1,000 before June 30, 2009. So, those candidates who just recently announced or haven’t engaged in any real campaign fundraising as of yet were not required to complete the form.
The next reporting period will be through the end of December, and reports will be due on January 15th. Take it from me – the January report will be a lot more interesting than this one.
Still, there is quite a bit of fun packed in these reports, so lets give you a basic breakdown:
REPUBLICANS
Bruce Poliquin
- Link to report – Here
- Raised – $276,939
- Cash on hand – $192,227
Matt Jacobson
- Link to report – Here
- Raised – $39,586
- Cash on hand – 10,008
Les Otten
- Link to report – Here
- Raised – $7,753.00
- Cash on hand – $3,820.47
In a release, the Poliquin campaign claimed victory in “round one”, saying that his cash advantage over Jacobson means that Mainers are responding to his campaign:
“I may have taken Round One, but I know this is a heavyweight fight,” Poliquin added. “Our campaign has a long way to go before this is over. We are continuing to build momentum, raise money, reach out to voters, and bring our message to as many Mainers as we can. We’re not taking a day off.”
I also spoke with some people from the Jacobson campaign. They indicated that the campaign did not make any kind of fundraising push whatsoever, instead focusing on grassroots campaigning, and that the 40,000 dollar total was a completely organic phenomenon from individual donors supporting the campaign. They indicated that they will be ramping up fundraising in the next six months, and that this result was more than satisfactory at this stage in the campaign.
Personally, the numbers I choose to look at if we really want to compare these two candidates are actually $117,351 and $38,290, which are the totals each drummed up without personal contributions to their own campaign, or in kind contributions. Both totals are respectable, though Poliquin’s are obviously quite impressive, even without his own contribution.
I’ve worked on countless political campaigns – national level races all the way down to my own race for state legislature in 2004, and one thing I’ve learned about fundraising is that it is not the initial totals that matter. What matters is momentum, and the expectations game.
A strong showing in the first reporting period by one candidate doesn’t matter much in the second period if his opponent then out-raises him then, because they then not only show fundraising prowess, but recapture the big mo.
Similarly, however, a strong first period that is followed up by even MORE distance being put between the top two candidates basically cements front-runner status, and can have major implications for the long haul of a campaign.
The January report will tell me a lot more about this race than the first report did.
DEMOCRATS
Steve Rowe
- Link to report – Here
- Raised – $59,232.60
- Cash on hand – $57,791.67
Dawn Hill
- No information as of yet.
Not nearly as interesting as the Republican race at this point, Steve Rowe has raised roughly $60,000 and spent almost nothing. Dawn Hill hasn’t released a report, and one assumes that is because she hasn’t raised any actual money yet.
This race, much like the Republicans, should have a much more interesting set of numbers next January.
GREENS
Lynne Williams
- Link to report – Here
- Raised – $3,295
- Cash on hand – $1,162.53
Patrick Quinlan
- No information as of yet.
Certainly not the big money race – but then again, third party runs don’t typically feature much money anyway, so this isn’t much of a shocker.
INDEPENDENTS
Samme Bailey, Augustus Edgerton, Alex Hammer and John Whitcomb have all failed to file a report, which means they have not fundraised anything to this point.
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