Sharron Angle Raises $ 14,000,000 In Third Quarter
Say whatever you might about Sharron Angle, but this is a truly astounding figure:
Former Nevada state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) raised an eye-popping $14 million between July 1 and Sept. 30 for her challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), a stunning number that far eclipses the cash-collection totals of other prominent candidates seeking Senate seats next month.
“Sharron Angle produced one of the most successful single quarters of fundraising in the nation’s history for a U.S. Senate campaign,” said Angle communications director Jarrod Agen. “This is a testament to the hatred of Harry Reid, the nation’s disapproval of President Obama, and the unprecedented grassroots support for Sharron Angle.”
Agen did not provide figures for how much money Angle had left in the bank at the end of September and it’s likely to be well less than the $14 million she raised since she relies heavily on a costly and aggressive direct mail fundraising operation.
(…)
Angle’s fundraising over the last three months represent an exponential gain over what she collected during her underdog primary bid in which she was heavily outspent by two Republican opponents but managed to win the race thanks to strong support from the tea party movement.
Between April 1 and June 30, which included three weeks of fundraising in the wake of her June 8 primary victory, Angle brought in $4.75 million.
Angle’s total dwarfs other impressive fundraising hauls by GOP Senate candidates in the third quarter including former Florida state House Speaker Marco Rubio ($5 million raised) and former Washington state Sen. Dino Rossi ($4.5 million).
Scott Brown set a record of his own when he raised $ 14.2 million in the Special Election to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, but that is dwarfed by the $ 22 million Rick Lazio raised in his failed bid to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2000 New York Senate race.
Obviously, Angle is hoping for a repeat of Brown’s victory rather than Lazio’s defeat.
With the very weak fundraising by the national GOP committees and these uneven hauls by individual candidates (some WAY outperforming the average while others are below) it suggests the following-
1) the right base is avoiding the national party infrastructure in favor of donating to specific politicians
2) these contributions are going to “rock star” candidates that the contributors like rather than to those who might need it (Angle could certainly use some big bucks but there’s no way that 14 million just for her candidacy is the most effective way to elect republicans overall)
I suspect there will be some shocks post Nov as races that the GOP should have won are lost for lack of cash and the right will suddenly remember why they had the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC in the first place. Expect at that point for a big jihad between the insiders and the young turks over control of those organizations. Who wins probably depends in large part in how many screw ups the uneven disbursement of funds causes (and thus how much ammo the insiders will have)