Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:27:24 PM EST
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| Herb Jackson has some interesting financial facts tacked on the end of his article about Steve Rothman's voter outreach. Facts, as usual, are informative.
For example, we have this trifecta:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., raised $931,700 during the quarter and had $4.3 million on hand at the end of the year.
* Republican developer Anne Evans Estabrook of Spring Lake, who is challenging Lautenberg, filed her first campaign report showing that from April 25 through Dec. 31 last year, she raised $1.8 million, including $1.7 million in loans from herself, and had $1.5 million at the end of the year.
* Two other Republicans vying for the nomination to run against Lautenberg, state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio of Montville and Ramapo College professor Murray Sabrin, announced their candidacies in January and therefore did not have to file reports this week. Sabrin announced he had exceeded his initial goal of raising $31,000 in the month of January, though he did not say by how much.
Apparently, Frank Lautenberg is not too old to raise the money - and he can probably still cut the mustard, too. Estabrook is pathetic - if you write yourself a $1.7 million check, you haven't "raised" it. I'd say it's a good indication no one - even Republicans - care that she's running. But she's making it difficult for Pennacchio and Sabrin - even if he can raise a whole $32K in a month.
Click on through. More snarkiness with numbers lies ahead. |
| Thurman Hart :: Follow the Dancing Dollar Bills |
Another trifecta comparison - of Congressional people:
* Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, raised nearly $60,000 in the quarter and ended the year with $549,800 on hand.
* Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, raised $203,000 during the quarter and had $1,138,600 in the bank on Dec. 31.
* Freshman Rep. Albio Sires, D-West New York, raised more than $175,000 during the fourth quarter and had $209,300 at the end of 2007.
If Albio is outraising Hot Rod, then either Frelinghuysen isn't taking Tom Wyka seriously or he just doesn't have the support he's accustomed to having. Either way, it's good for Tom (who is a good guy and would make a helluva Congressman).
A comparison of two challengers: Demarest Rabbi Dennis Shulman raised $143,200 in the final three months of last year and had $174,800 on hand, while Glen Rock civil rights attorney Camille Abate raised $82,100 and had $81,122. Shulman and Abate are vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge three-term incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, who raised $121,300 during the quarter and had $352,000 on hand on Dec. 31.
I'm not sure how much they are "vying" if Schulman can enter a full year after Abate and bury her in dollar bills. Abate's supporters plagued Blue Jersey with complaints that last season's challenger, Paul Aronsohn, had unfairly nudged her aside with his long-standing ties to national Democrats. Wonder what the excuse this time will be?
I kid at Abate's expense, but I give her full credit for keeping important issues on the table and for putting her name on the line. I don't think she has the political instincts to run a serious challenge to Scott Garrett, but I do not doubt her sincerity or her values. We should be lucky enough to have a Camille Abate in every Congressional district.
Final entry from Jackson: * Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who lives in Rothman's district but is not running for federal office, raised nearly $30,000 in the third quarter and had $576,300 on hand on Dec. 31. 
Wildes has been circling the Ninth District like a buzzard searching out a meat wagon. His grand hope is that Frank Lautenberg doesn't wake up one day, Steve Rothman manages to win appointment to the Senate, and he (Wildes) just runs his ship of self-grandeur up the rear-ends of all comers.
If Abate, in the Fifth, represents the best desires of grassroots activists to keep important issues in front of voters, then Wildes represents the worst of professional politicians who are interested in nothing more or less than pumping up their egos regardless of what is going on around them.
Man, that isn't funny at all. Let me lighten the mood.
Asshat. |
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