I was stunned when I first read the campaign fundraising totals for this period reported by John Doolittle (h/t to Hank Shaw over at the Stockton Record).
I live far away from the 4th CD, in Orange County, but I know the kind of momentum you need to have going on to gear up to win a "battleground" U.S. House seat. It takes a staggering amount of money — and Doolittle’s anemic totals this year make Doolittle’s first and most important hurdle that much harder… According to published reports, Doolittle raised just over $50,000 to Democrat Charlie Brown’s impressive $212,000.
Looking at the fundraising numbers from neighboring CD 11, another "battleground" seat, the incumbent Congressman, Democrat Jerry McNerney, raised $234K in the third quarter and reported $757K cash on hand. A little different picture than that of the incumbent in CD 4. For those interested, Dean Andal, McNerney’s probably GOP opponent, raised $101,000 this period with a cash on hand of $351,118.
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October 16th, 2007 at 12:00 am
This time I think Jon’s analysis is correct. I was at several events and saw Charlie Brown out shaking hands, introducing himself to the crowd and making a good impression. Not John Doolittle. John Doolittle is hiding under his desk. My opinion is that John Doolittle would do all Republicans a favor by announcing that he is giving up his seat in Congress to concentrate on his family (or some other usual excuse) or the Democrats will take his seat and that is a very bad thing for the United States.
As for Dean Andal, doesn’t he have anything better to do than try to knock off another Republican? I know he is termed out of his present position and this is the only thing he thinks he can run for to keep his nose in the public trough, but come on. Doesn’t he have ANY private sector job prospects he’s suited for?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I think you have Dean Andal confused with somebody else. He is currently working in the private sector, after being termed out of his Board of Equalization seat in 2002. He is the only Republican running (as of today at least) to take on Jerry McNerney in CD 11.