The Senate fundraising scorecard so far

Here's what you see for candidates for the US Senate in Texas for the 2009-10 election cycle. I've removed the two incumbents plus candidates from previous cycles who are sitll filing finance reports.

Republicans


Name             Raised     Spent    Net Cash     Debts

=======================================================

Ames Jones       49,800    30,369     164,662        0

Shapiro          34,077    99,226     310,407    16,500

Williams, M     206,335    92,377     113,957    51,426

Williams, R     348,081    90,479     388,628   200,501

Total           628,293   412,451     977,654   268,427



Democrats

Name             Raised     Spent    Net Cash     Debts

=======================================================

White         1,867,163   472,119   2,131,638    32,890

Sharp               ???       ???         ???       ???

Putting it another way, Bill White raised three times as much as the four Republican candidates combined. Take out the loans, and it's more like five times as much. He also has more than twice the cash on hand.

So, yeah, I think you can say the Democratic candidates have the early financial lead. Admittedly, Florence Shapiro is hamstrung by the current legislative session; her second quarter numbers will likely be weak as well, especially if there's a special session. I don't think it would have made that much difference, however.

And of course all this is before we take into account what John Sharp did. The FEC still doesn't have Sharp's details, but BOR's David Mauro has the scoop:

$515,155.00 - Total contributions other than loans
$514,955.00 - Net contributions other than loans
$2,001,678.10 - Loans made or guaranteed by the candidate

I was sent PDFs with this info shortly thereafter, so I'm sure the FEC page will be updated to reflect this information. The good news for Sharp is that if you subtract the loan money he still outraised the four Republicans. Needless to say, though, that's nowhere near as impressive as the huge haul he said he had at the deadline. No wonder he clammed up completely after that.

Now this is just the first quarter of a cycle that I believe will go on for at least two full years; more if KBH loses in either race in 2010 and decides to stick it out in DC. Maybe White can't maintain this pace, maybe Sharp can pick it up; for sure the Republicans, especially Shapiro, can do better than this. As Joe Sheehan likes to say at the Baseball Prospectus, you can't judge a team's season by the first few weeks. We'll know soon enough who will have the funds they need to compete.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 23, 2009 to Election 2010