Posted on 10/19/2004 1:06:44 PM PDT by Theodore R.
Vitter leads Senate candidates in campaign fund-raising
The Associated Press U.S. Rep. David Vitter, the lone Republican in Louisiana's U.S. Senate race, has surged well ahead of his two major Democratic opponents in fund-raising, according to finance reports.
Vitter's campaign said Monday that he had raised $1.75 million in the third quarter -- the period covering July 18 to Sept. 30 -- and had $3.25 million in the bank as the Nov. 2 primary campaign moves into the final stretch. He has raised $6.1 million for the entire election, which is expected to go to a Dec. 4 runoff.
His U.S. House colleague, Rep. Chris John, D-Crowley, took in $988,607 over the same period and had $1.08 million on hand as of Sept. 30, according to campaign finance documents. State Treasurer John Kennedy, also a Democrat, reported raising $302,630 in the third quarter and had $803,126 when the books were closed.
Campaign finance records show that Vitter and John both got fund-raising help from sitting members of the Senate, Washington-based political action committees or the national party committees.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee transferred $34,000 to John in late September, records show, and his campaign paid $1,287 in August to rent office space at the committee's Washington headquarters.
John got $15,500 from the Committee for a Better Future, a group that raises money for Democratic senatorial candidates around the nation. Other beneficiaries of the group's fund-raising were Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D-Okla., and South Carolina Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum.
Records show that Vitter got $55,500 from a joint fund-raising committee fueled by the supporters of Republican Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Bass Brothers Enterprises, Anadarko Petroleum, Landry Restaurants and the Houston law firm Locke Liddell and Sapp contributed to the committee that donated to Vitter and three other Republican senatorial campaigns.
Vitter also was one of several Republican senatorial candidates who received money from a golf tournament fund-raiser at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, records show. His cut was $13,700, according to Dan Allen, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The golf outing raised money from political action committees connected with Shell Oil Co., drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, the Brown and Williamson tobacco company and defense contractor Northrop Grumman, according to records on file with the U.S. Senate.
Campaign finance disclosure reports for the third quarter were due Oct. 15, but Senate rules only require candidates to mail them by that date.
By Monday, John's 518-page report was the only report available for public inspection, and it showed heavy support from lawyers, labor unions, drug makers and energy companies.
John's most recent report also shows a heavy television ad buy targeting the final weeks before the primary. His campaign paid $1.6 million to Media Strategies & Research of Fairfax, Va., to place the ads. He paid $93,686 to Bright Moments, a New Orleans firm to place radio ads, mostly on stations appealing to black listeners.
Bump...c'mon David! Avoid that runoff!!
Please go to the web sites (see links below) or campaign offices and help in any way you can. Get signs, bumper stickers, and volunteer if you live in the state. If not in that state, you can still contribute securely online by credit card.
Here are the seven that have been identified as close Senate seats:
Alaska: Murkowski for Senate web site (click here)
Colorado: Coors for Senate web site (click here)
Florida: Martinez for Senate web site (click here).
Louisiana: Vitter for Senate web site (click here)
North Carolina: Burr for Senate web site (click here)
Oklahoma: Coburn for Senate web site (click here)
South Dakota: Thune for Senate web site (click here). Defeating Daschle would be especially sweet!
Here is a seat that the GOP should easily win, but recent polls show that the Dem is closing fast and we can't afford to lose this seat.
South Carolina: DeMint for Senate web site (click here)
Here is another seat that would be great to win. Beating Osama Mama Patty Murray of Washington is a long-shot, but would be great. Plus, Nethercutt upset Dem House Speaker Tom Foley ten years ago. Maybe, he has another upset in his future?
Washington: Nethercutt for Senate (click here)
That's a nice chunk of cash to have on hand.
Do you know if the Nethercutt House seat is expected to revert to the Democrats? Tom Foley held it from 1965-95.
A LA poll on Tuesday showed Vitter with 47 percent in the Nov. 2 "jungle primary." The senatorial general election, if required, is Saturday, Dec. 4. Most seem to think that Vitter will fall at least five points short of the 50 percent plus one, meet Chris John in the general election (mistermed a "runoff" by many) and then lost by three or four points to the popular John, who thus far in the polls is still less "popular" than Vitter. John Breaux, LA's most popular politician since Huey P. and Earl K. Long, will make the difference on Dec. 4, as he did in both 2002 and 2003 for the other Senate seat and the LA governorship.
Wasn't Nethercutt one of those congressmen elected in 1994 on a pledge to serve no more than three terms and then went back on it?
Yes, Nethercutt reneged on his three-terms-and-out pledge. But Helen Chenoweth, R-ID, upheld her pledge. Now Tom Tancredo, R-CO, is running for a fourth term after pledging to serve only three.
When one asks a Breaux admirer in LA to list some of the senator's accomplishments, most cannot think of a single thing to say. It's just that he is well-known and is popular; there is little substance there.
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