Earlier this week we learned that Sean Barney Sean Barney raised $150,148.75 in the first quarter of 2016, for a total of $231,000 for the entire campaign, and has $171,263.30 in cash on hand. We also learned that Lisa Blunt Rochester raised $134,770.74 in the first quarter, for a total of $256,293.15 for the entire campaign, and has 284,873.06 cash on hand, though that includes a $128,000 loan that Lisa has made to her own campaign. Last night the Townsend campaign announced that it raised $145,747.34 for the first quarter, $358,423.38 for the entire campaign, and $192,545.04 cash on hand.
However, a key question needs to be made about each campaign’s fundraising: how much of it was raised for the primary, and how much for the general? Because if the money was raised for the general, it cannot be used in the primary. How you can tell from the reports if money was raised for the primary or general is if it is marked as primary or general in the itemized contributions. From a review of each reports, Townsend has raised all of his money for the primary, while Barney and Rochester for the general and the primary. Thus, Townsend has raised $358,423.38 for the primary, while Barney raised $207,897.75 for the primary and Rochester raised $228,117.37.
If you want to know why Bryon Short dropped out, it is because he raised $72,979 in the first quarter, and $128,005 cash on hand, not enough to keep pace from Barney, Townsend and Rochester.
A review of Barney’s itemized contributions shows a lot of out of state support, and that is likely due to Barney’s connection to Vote Vets and national consultant Joe Trippi. But that is just my speculation.
Finally, Ms. Rochester was absent from the primary debate on Monday because she was attending an EMILY’s List fundraiser in Washington, DC.
Links to the reports are below:
http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/997/201604159012498997/201604159012498997.pdf
http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/275/201604159012505275/201604159012505275.pdf
http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/566/201604159012463566/201604159012463566.pdf