Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Campaign finance reports for the second quarter for Montana’s two federal elections are beginning to trickle down from the campaigns along with attempts to spin less than glorious numbers. At this point, the campaigns are the source of information because the Federal Election Commission's reports end at 14 May 2014.
The best spin came out of John Walsh's campaign, which fell another $150,000 behind Steve Daines:
Take a look at the Q2 fundraising numbers Daines released this afternoon: just $1.4 million. Daines had a money advantage even before Walsh announced, left over from his Congressional campaign and has tapped into a GOP network eager to flip the Senate.
Still, John Walsh kept pace. He bested beltway expectations and brought in $1.25 million.
Falling another $150,000 behind is not keeping pace. It’s not fatal, but it’s not good. Much more important, Daines reported $1.7 million in the bank at the end of the quarter, while Walsh had just $0.7 million. That disparity puts Walsh in a very difficult position. He’ll need to maintain a brutal schedule in August begging for votes and dialing for dollars to improve his situation.
I’ll address independent expenditures in another post.
The cash on hand situation is reversed in the contest for the U.S. House, with Democrat John Lewis reporting $623,000 in the bank, six times the working cash of Republican Ryan Zinke, who KRTV reports has less than $100,000 in the bank.
Zinke knows how to raise money. He’ll make up that difference pretty quickly.
Lewis needs to keep raising money. His $500,000 advantage is temporary. Still, he’s in the best position to win of any Democrat who has sought that seat since Pat Williams retired.