By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor
Charlie Crist leads over Marco Rubio 54 percent-23 percent (measuring registered Republicans) for the 2010 Senate seat in Florida according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The other 23 percent of voters are undecided or giving other answers.
St. Pete mayoral candidate Scott Wagman raked in the bucks during the first quarter of this year. Per a press release from his office (the complete text is after the jump), the candidate brought in $74,097.25, with 90% of the contributors being local. Not bad for a guy who was virtually unknown just a few months ago.
UPDATE: Fund-raising numbers for all the candidates appeared toay. As Mr. Schorsch points out in the comments, it’s not fair or balanced of me not to include the others in this post. So, after the jump you’ll now find Wagman’s press release and a rundown of all the candidates finances …
By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.
Two of my passions are gourmet food and politics. When I’m not walking door-to-door for a candidate, I’m in front of a stove or near a wine bin or doing something otherwise epicurean. So the fundraising event for a candidate running in Dunedin I recently attended was a real McFlurry, a seemingly contradictory juxtaposition that comes out wonderfully by the time you’re finished. Read the rest of this entry »
This week, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas will introduce H.R. 5699, which has been hailed as the “Blogger Protection Act of 2008†(CL blogophiles can breathe a sigh of relief).
Right now, “uncompensated Internet activity†is protected by a Federal Election Commission regulation that allows linking to campaign websites and writing about the views of federal candidates—which, without the regulation, could potentially be considered a campaign contribution or expenditure on the candidate’s behalf. Basically, blogs currently share the same protection from campaign finance restrictions as other media outlets.
The problem is that since this protection is regulatory, it can be changed without congressional action. Rep. Hensarling will introduce legislation that will create statutory blogger protections in the hopes of creating a more permanent solution for our online “pajama journalists.†Forge on, brave bloggers!
Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan, whose 2006 election continues to contested by his Democratic opponent over (say it with me, folks, it is Florida after all) voting machine irregularities, is the tenth biggest fundraiser in the US House, CQ Politics says.
Its listing for the wealthy Sarasota car dealer:
• 10) Vern Buchanan , Republican
Florida’s 13th District (Southwest — Sarasota, most of Bradenton)
Campaign money: $1.4 million raised, $764,000 cash on hand
Buchanan was elected in 2006 to succeed two-term Republican Rep. Katherine Harris, who left open southwestern Florida’s 13th District to pursue a Senate campaign that failed. Buchanan’s 369-vote victory over Democrat Christine Jennings was exceptionally close — and controversial, as Democrats alleged that malfunctions in electronic voting machines led to a large “undervote†in a pro-Jennings county. Republicans said that the result was above board and that the Democrats were sore losers. Buchanan and Jennings are preparing for a rematch in 2008.
Frank Sanchez, an adviser and local fundraising chairman for the Barack Obama campaign, tells PoHo that Obama is reporting $32.5 million in campaign contributions for the quarter ending June 30 (that was Saturday). That’s a record for a Democratic presidential candidate.
Of that money, an impressive $31 million is in primary dollars. (A quick primer in federal campaign rules; you can give up to $2,300 each for the primary and general elections, both on one check if you like. Some candidates use those double contributions to pump up their fundraising reports in the primary, even though they can’t legally spend the money unless they win the nomination.)
Sanchez estimated that $260,000 of that total came out of Tampa Bay, mostly from two fund raisers held in April, including a 2,000-person event in Ybor City.
More than 154,000 new donors gave to the Obama campaign between April and the end of June.
No word yet on Hillary Clinton’s quarter. The buzz (damn, hate using that word) at the Tampa Democrats For America training academy and in Orlando at the NALEO conference was it would be in the $25 million-$30 million range.
John Edwards just cracked the $9 million mark for the quarter, according to fundraising appeals from his campaign on Saturday.
