Posted on 04/18/2002 5:07:32 AM PDT by Lance Romance
Reich is falling behind in $ race: Democratic candidate has less cash than foes
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Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Robert Reich, facing a key test at next month's party convention, has about $140,000 in campaign cash - less than one tenth the size of his top rivals' accounts. New campaign finance reports show that Reich actually spent more money last month than he took in - a glaring problem for any candidate seeking to get his campaign off the ground. Reich, the former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, spent more than $157,000 in March, while generating just $136,500 in contributions, according to campaign reports. Reich also was forced to put in $50,000 of his own money to keep his campaign afloat. At the end of last month, Reich had just $144,756 in his account, a pittance compared with the four other Democratic candidates. Reich campaign officials blame the fund-raising problem on his late start in the race. He announced his candidacy last December and has only been raising money for four months. But Reich's slow fund-raising pace comes even as he generates far more publicity than his rivals, and is nationally known because of his Clinton administration post and his advocacy for liberal causes. Reich also is at or near the top in the latest polls of Massachusetts Democratic voters. ``Clearly we're going to have to raise more money as we go,'' said Reich campaign manager Mark Longabaugh. ``It just takes time to assemble a finance team.'' Longabaugh predicted Reich will raise up to $2.5 million before the September primary. But Reich's slow start means that he will be at a severe disadvantage going into the May 31 Democratic state convention, when he must win the support of 15 percent of the delegates to get a place on the primary ballot. Reich's top rivals will be able to outspend him leading up to the convention. At the end of last month, Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham had more than $2.5 million in his campaign coffers, while Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien had nearly $1.5 million in her account. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Steven Grossman has $2.2 million in his campaign account, according to the most recent reports. Grossman has pumped more than $1 million of his own money into the race. Even former state Sen. Warren Tolman, who sits in last place in the most recent polls, now easily leads Reich in the fund-raising race. Tolman - thanks to an injection of $587,000 in public money from the clean elections law - had nearly $500,000 in campaign cash at the end of last month. Longabaugh and other Reich advisers say they are not concerned about the lack of funds, because the campaign won't need a lot of money until the summer and fall, when it plans to air TV ads. They also say they are confident that Reich will get his 15 percent support at the convention. Longabaugh predicted that Reich will do much more fund raising by the end of May, due to an aggressive direct mail campaign. The campaign just signed on a chief fund-raiser, Josh Galper, who worked for Democrat Rahm Emanuel's congressional campaign in Chicago. ``You're going to see us close this (gap) very fast,'' Longabaugh said. ``We're going to get the money raised and we're going to be very competitive.''
by Joe Battenfeld
Thursday, April 18, 2002
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I guess I will never understand the liberal mindset.
Mitt, bye the way, has his own problems with the Republican faithfull.
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