Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Wednesday Morning News | DC Comics Officially Announces Watc… »

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

2012 / Money / Election Burner Leads Quarterly Money Race in 1st Congressional District

Posted by Goldy on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:59 AM

Yesterday was the deadline for candidates to file their Oct-Dec 2011 fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission, and an opportunity to size up the relative strengths of the candidates thus far. There is only one competitive congressional race in Washington state at the moment—the crowded contest in our newly redrawn 1st Congressional District—so that, for now, is the focus of my attention.

Candidate	4Q-11 Contributions	Cash on Hand
Darcy Burner	$127,875	$ 89,013
Laura Ruderman	$ 76,184	$187,763
Steve Hobbs	$ 61,718	$ 86,573
Roger Goodman	$ 47,203	$ 53,357
Darshan Rauniyar	$ 29,890	$114,966

As you can see, among Democrats, Darcy Burner was the hands down winner in last quarter's money race, despite having one third less time to beg for cash (she didn't declare until November 2). Suzan DelBene didn't declare until after the quarter ended, so she's not included in the totals, but her ability and willingness to self-fund assures that she will outspend her rivals. (Late yesterday, DelBene issued a press release touting the $122,250 she's raised since announcing, so she's no doubt in the lead for the next quarterly results.)

As for cash on hand, Laura Ruderman leads that category with $187,763, though she risks losing her advantage if she doesn't pick up the pace. Meanwhile, Roger Goodman and Steve Hobbs are prohibited from raising money during the current legislative session, so they'll surely lose further ground on the money leaders between now and the next report.

Of course, money isn't everything. If it was, everybody else would just get out of the way and let DelBene run unopposed. But it is a somewhat imperfect measure of both the candidate's work ethic, and their appeal.

Comments (12) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

state legislators are not prohibited from raising money for federal accounts during session. see: baumgartner, michael

Posted by alrightthen on February 1, 2012 at 9:16 AM

state legislators are not prohibited from raising money during session for federal accounts, just state accounts. see: baumgartner, michael

Posted by alrighta on February 1, 2012 at 9:18 AM

Goldy, what can we make of the fact that Burner must have burned a lot of cash in this time? She's the only one on this list with less COH than money raised, which is remarkable given that she did smoke everyone else on that count.

Which raises other questions, like who made these contributions and how much did she actually spend during this time, that could be answered if we could see the report for ourselves. Would you please update the post with a link? (I'm going to do my own homework, but it's a nice thing for you to provide for everyone.)

Posted by Matt from Denver on February 1, 2012 at 9:23 AM

Well, here's my answer to my question. Burner's total expenditures are $38,862, which is exactly the difference between her contributions and her COH. So she started out with zero.

Now, I would have thought that she would have some money left over from her previous campaigns. But apparently not. If the reason for this is well known to those who follow Western Washington politics, I'll apologize for my ignorance, but I have to ask what happened. Did she finish her last run in debt?

Posted by Matt from Denver on February 1, 2012 at 10:21 AM

4: I would assume that Burner set up a new committee for this 1st District run, and couldn't use funds for her previous 8th District runs.

Posted by Teslick on February 1, 2012 at 10:40 AM

State legislators or state office holders are not prohibited from raising funds for federal races during legislative sessions - PDC rules cover only Washington races, FEC rules cover federal...

Posted by virtuosobob on February 1, 2012 at 10:55 AM

I think that a more appropriate candidate representing the new Seattle of immigrants should be running for this position. Burner is yet another Inslee...keeping the club exclusive to natives.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on February 1, 2012 at 11:02 AM

@ 5, it turns out she dissolved her committee in 2009 and it was out of cash at the time. It reported zero debts and obligations. So, I guess that answers that.

Posted by Matt from Denver on February 1, 2012 at 11:07 AM

#7 The 1st district doesn't have Seattle in it now, and the new one is even further away.

Posted by virtuosobob on February 1, 2012 at 11:09 AM

Goldy - isn't it relevant to include the numbers for John Koster, given that this is a 50/50 district now?

Posted by virtuosobob on February 1, 2012 at 11:12 AM

@1, @6, Yes, the legislative freeze does not apply to state officials seeking contributions for federal office. My mistake for consulting the RCW, which does not make this distinction, as opposed to the WAC, which does.

Posted by Goldy on February 1, 2012 at 11:18 AM

@10, Koster raised $69,740 in the quarter, and has $113,172 cash on hand. But with apologies to James Watkins ($24,257/$37,728), the race on the Republican side doesn't look all that competitive.

Posted by Goldy on February 1, 2012 at 11:24 AM