Congressional candidates’ third-quarter campaign finance reports were due today (October 15), so I went over to the Federal Election Commission site to see how things stand.
For some reason, I was unable to find reports for Senator Tom Harkin or his opponent, Christopher Reed. I will cover their FEC filings in a separate post when data become available. UPDATE: The National Journal’s Hotline blog published the basic information from all Senate candidates’ FEC filings.
Tom Harkin had total receipts of $635,915 during 3Q, spent $495,136, and had $3,956,998 cash on hand as of September 30.
Christopher Reed had total receipts of $34,956 during 3Q, spent $13,156, and had $22,092 cash on hand left.
All of the incumbents have large cash-on-hand advantages over their opponents going into the final stretch of the campaign.
Bruce Braley (D, IA-01) has given generously to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: $25,000 in July and another $50,000 at the end of August.
I could not find any donations from Dave Loebsack (D, IA-02) to the DCCC. I hope someone from his staff will correct me if I am wrong. He certainly can afford to donate to the DCCC, running in a D+7 district in what looks like a very strong year for Iowa Democrats. On the other hand, the DCCC did nothing to help him two years ago when he was running against Jim Leach, so maybe he is less inclined to support the committee’s efforts.
I also could not find any record of donations from Leonard Boswell (D, IA-03) to the DCCC. Again, I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong. But if this is correct, it’s a disgrace for Boswell. The DCCC has spent heavily on Boswell’s behalf in several previous election cycles. The least he could do would be to help them support other Democratic candidates.
Iowa’s two Democratic challengers had very strong fundraising quarters. Becky Greenwald out-raised Tom Latham during the reporting period, which is phenomenal. However, she spent more than she raised, leaving her with relatively little cash on hand. The DCCC has added her to its Red to Blue list, so she presumably will be getting some help from them as well as from EMILY’s list, which endorsed her last month. She will need that help in order to stay on tv for the remainder of the campaign.
Considering that the fifth district is not widely acknowledged to be up for grabs, Rob Hubler’s haul for the quarter is impressive. No wonder the DCCC put him on the Emerging Races list. He went up on the radio last week and presumably will be able to stay on the radio for the duration of the campaign. It’s not clear whether he will have enough money for tv ads before election day. Steve King just went up on tv today and only went up on the radio a day or two earlier. I’m surprised King waited so long. Latham has been advertising heavily on television for the past few weeks and put up his first radio ad during the summer.
Here is the basic information from the candidates’ FEC filings. Click the links to access the full reports.
IA-01
Bruce Braley: $184,854.12 raised during 3Q, $107,099.90 spent, $402,586.60 cash on hand
Dave Hartsuch: $25,163.00 raised during 3Q, $30,447.28 spent, $7,391.01 cash on hand
IA-02
Dave Loebsack: $110,442.10 raised during 3Q, $116,561.03 spent, $456,656.96 cash on hand
Mariannette Miller-Meeks has not yet filed her report; I will update with that when available. Her report for the second quarter is here. UPDATE: She reported $108,599.26 raised during 3Q, $61,944.50 spent, $83,274.27 cash on hand
IA-03
Leonard Boswell: $133,045.34 raised during 3Q, $198,211.79 spent, $325,757.93 cash on hand
Kim Schmett: $56,294.35 raised during 3Q, $61,306.22 spent, $23,537.30 cash on hand
Note: According to his 3Q filing, Ed Fallon has paid off most of his debt from the third district primary against Boswell.
IA-04
Becky Greenwald: $308,452.01 raised during 3Q, $354,422.07 spent, $24,476.99 cash on hand
Tom Latham: $290,815.32 raised during 3Q, $269,858.03 spent, $774,671.45 cash on hand
IA-05
Rob Hubler: $95,235.42 raised during 3Q, $56,168.81 spent, $64,654.06 cash on hand
Steve King: $191,689.27 raised during 3Q, $91,993.28 spent, $351,239.55 cash on hand
5 Comments
DesMoinesDem - Very Generous Donor
I read your posts everyday DesMoinesDem and being retired, I usually have time to follow all of your links too.
I noticed that you were a pretty generous donor to Becky Greenwald’s campaign. I guess if you have the money, you might as well donate it. I just wish I had that kind of money to donate to candidates. Maybe after Obama is the President and he spreads around the wealth some, I’ll get some more, I hope.
My only question is – would you have donated that much to William Meyers if he had won the primary instead of Greenwald?
I’ll give you some credit – you do put your money where your mouth is. That’s a compliment.
bill-spencer Wed 15 Oct 11:03 PM
I would certainly have donated to William Meyers
if he had won the nomination.
How much I would have donated would depend on the kind of campaign he was running and what he was saying about key issues that are important to me. But I am highly motivated to defeat Tom Latham and so would strongly support the Democratic nominee in the fourth district.
desmoinesdem Thu 16 Oct 7:44 AM
I should add that
If Becky Greenwald were to get to Congress and vote like Boswell instead of like Loebsack and Braley, I would support a primary challenger in the fourth district in 2010.
desmoinesdem Thu 16 Oct 9:52 AM
Boswell and Loebsack
These guys should use it or lose it. Maybe it’s time to call them out. Braley is doing the right thing, although he sits on the Red to Blue committee, so he probably feels more pressure, and Harkin has been very generous with the DSCC. Perhaps he feels he can’t intervene in congressional elections? No idea.
But for Loebsack and Boswell to be sitting on their hands instead of helping Greenwald and Hubler is unacceptable.
riverdog9 Thu 16 Oct 9:02 AM
from what I've heard
Senators do not typically give to the DCCC–only to the DSCC. Don’t know if there are campaign finance regulations that only allow senators to make unlimited transfers to the DSCC.
Braley got a lot of help from the DCCC in 2006, so naturally he is more likely to give back.
What I can’t believe is Boswell. Again, if he has made a donation that I didn’t find on his form, I hope someone will correct me. The DCCC has been there for him many times, and he is safe this year.
desmoinesdem Thu 16 Oct 9:54 AM