With Coleman’s Q2 numbers already reported at $1.5 million and Ciresi at $725K, I was wondering how Franken could possibly beat Norm this quarter in fundraising. Well, looks as though I should have had more faith in the guy because this quote was attributed to Franken in today’s Bemidji Pioneer: “This quarter, I have out-raised Norm Coleman.” While Franken’s camp still has yet to unleash the full numbers, the article did provide some more details:
he said he has 35,000 individual contributors, with an average donation of less than $100. Meanwhile, he said, Coleman has received $650,000 since 2002 from pharmaceutical companies.
This seems to hold up to what I’ve been hearing tossed around over the past few days:
Who really knows though; I guess we’ll just have to wait in anticipation for the official #s to hit.
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My spider sense tells me between 1.8 and 1.9 million dollars. Sean
Sean:
Republicans fully expected Franken to outraise Coleman this quarter. Running for office is Franken’s full-time job, while Coleman has a job being a U.S. Senator.
From a post I wrote on June 25:
“U.S. Senator Norm Coleman raised more money than Franken during the last reporting period, but I would expect Franken to beat him this quarter. His opportunities to raise are much greater as this is his full-time job while Coleman is busy being a good Senator. ”
With Franking making statements like “I think you make the President, uh, cut off funding for the troops” it should be no surprise his fundraising is successful amongst Democrats.
I think Frankens going to smoke Coleman, big time.
I’m sure the righties are ccounting on being able to smear and fear him, I say “bring it on”, give it your best shot, losers.
We’ll all watch all the chickenhawks try to run away from Bush.
I think theres 12 Republican seats up for re-election next year. How many of those are they going to keep?
Good luck…
Yes, Micheal. I remember someone here pointing out that you had done a fine job lowering expectations and covering your ass back in June. Thanks for pointing it out again.
“Coleman is busy being a good Senator”
Good for whom? The criminal Bushco administration or the people of Minnesota? Convince me, why should I vote for a wind sock like Normy?
I think that Michael needs to review the results of the 2006 Senate Election and rememmber what happened to Mark Raymond Kennedy, GOP Congressional Representative from Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district. As I recall, he got his ASS HANDED to him by Amy Klobuchar, who beat him by 20 percentage points… and this was specifically on the war in Iraq… all Franken needs to do is follow the Klobuchar path and link Coleman to Bush (who has lower approval rankings than Nixon)… and Coleman has a voting record that easily links to the vast right wing.
The idea that “running for office is Franken’s full-time job, while Coleman has a job being a U.S. Senator” would result in higher fundraising numbers for Franken is preposterous, and betrays ignorance of the well-established fact that it is way, way, way easier for incumbents to raise money. The history of political fundraising, along with all political science literature concerning elections confirms this.
At this point in the election cycle, it is proving far easier for Democrats - presidential candidates, congressional candidates, and national campaign committees - to raise money, most likely because of the general perception that Republican leadership has resulted in the country’s economic breakdown, the disastrous war in Iraq, and a realization that the importance of gay marriage and abortion pale in comparison to the lives of brave American soldiers and innocent Iraqis.
Michael — Your post brings up a few salient points.
If Norm Coleman has been in Washington, being a ‘good’ Senator, the people of Minnesota will respond to his hard work with an out pouring of their support? Because Norm will out raise Al Franken in individual donors, right? Norm will out raise Al Franken in Minnesota donors, right?
Your overarching point, that Norm Coleman has been busy doing the good work of the people of Minnesota and hasn’t had as much time to fundraise is well taken.
And because of that I’m sure you will heartily support a genuine and thorough discussion of any alternatives that would allow for our Senators and Representatives to spend their time doing the work of the American people. Like the public financing of elections proposed by Al Franken (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/if-you-ever-wonder-whethe_b_50344.html)
As always thanks for posting. Sean
It’s great to see progressive liberals in support of such a qualified candidate as Al Franken. However, can any one of them offer positive support without Bush bashing, or is clouding the issues justified if it point the way to victory?
Sean:
But Franken loves to raise money…he said it in an interview.
I noticed that KSTP (Channel 5) did a real HATCHET job on Al Franken’s fundraising results (linking Al to “Hollywood”, which is one of Norm Coleman’s current campaign strategies). Yet Channel 5 said NOTHING about where Norm’s $ are coming from!
Remember - the public airwaves are supposed to serve PUBLIC interests, not “Republican” interests!