FEC Reports

Jeff Beatty (R-Harwich)Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Beatty reported having just $58,448 in his campaign coffers at the end of the 3rd Quarter, according to the summary pages of his Federal Election Commission report released by his campaign.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who Beatty is challenging, reported a $5.3 million war chest at the end of the quarter.

Beatty's campaign did not release the entirety of his FEC report, but the summary pages revealed that he raised $188,132 in total contributions. Of that money, $185,000 came from individuals while $2,750 came from political party committees, $25 from PACs and $100 from the candidate.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Boston) campaigning in Framingham earlier this year: Politicker Photo

 U.S. Sen. John Kerry reported a war chest of over $5.3 million dollars at the end of the year's 3rd Quarter, a decrease of over $2 million from where he started the quarter, according to his Federal Election Commission report.

Half of that decrease, however, came from a $1 million contribution to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The Boston Democrat, who is currently seeking his fifth term in the U.S. Senate against Republican challenger Jeff Beatty, raked in nearly $131,000 for the quarter.  Between his contribution to the DSCC, another $10,500 given to the Massachusetts Democratic Party and several other large expenditures for his campaign, Kerry spent $2.3 million.

Jeff Beatty, the Republican challenging John Kerry this year, raised money for his run last year without properly disclosing his candidacy, the Boston Globe reported Sunday.

Jeff Beatty (R)Beatty, of Harwich, raised $560,000 in 2007, according to the report, while he was in an exploratory phase of his candidacy. By remaining in that phase, Beatty was exempt from the Federal Election Commission's quarterly filing requirements.

The Globe report cites several election law specialists that said the language Beatty used in fundraising mailings that were sent to 35,000 contributors across the country during 2007 demonstrated that Beatty was not in the exploratory phase of his candidacy, but was, in fact, running.

"To claim this operation is an exploratory committee rather than a campaign committee through the simple expedient of using the term 'exploratory' is akin to putting lipstick on a pig," Paul S. Ryan, the FEC program director with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, told the Globe. "It's absurd."

The Congressional candidates are required to file their pre-primary FEC reports today.  As the candidates with competitive races post their numbers Inside Edge will update them here.

District Party
Name
Raised
COH
AZ-5R
Jim Ogsbury
23,396
58,730
AZ-8
 DGabrielle Giffords
230,744
2,147,240

5th Congressional District Republican primary candidate Jim Ogsbury had $258,730 as of Aug. 13, according to the report the campaign filed with the Federal Elections Commission on Wednesday.

According to the report, Ogsbury raised $27,246, after a $150 refund, between July 1 and Aug. 13. His total cash on hand includes $250,000 he lent the campaign at the outset.

Lost in all the candidate fillings we neglected to mention the FEC filings from the New Hampshire Republican Party (NHGOP) and the New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP).

During the month of June the NHDP raised almost nine times more money than the NHGOP. The state Democrats raised $259,959 and spent $228,155; while the NHGOP raised $30,480 and spent $17,906. A part of the NHDP total is transfers from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committe  that total $177,707. The Republicans had a $15,000 transfer from the Republican National Committee.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) is touting his record-breaking second quarter fundraising total.

"In the most recent quarter, our campaign raised $564,205, which is well over twice as much as the $235,000 raised by my opponent," wrote Shadegg. "This figure is well above our prior record for any fundraising quarter.

"While total dollars raised is an important indication of support, even more important is the amount netted after deducting ongoing campaign expenditures. By this measure, we did even better. In the most recent quarter, after deducting ongoing expenses, our campaign netted $416,000 while my opponent's campaign only netted $74,000. This means our campaign netted almost six times as much as my opponent."

Earlier in the month I took a look ahead at the FEC numbers that were about to be posted.  Well they are up now and we can see how everyone faired.

1st Congressional District

Ann Kirkpatrick, Jeffrey Brown, Howard Shanker and Mary Kim Titla are all competing for the Democratic nomination.  Kirkpatrick has been added to the DCCC Red-to-Blue program and was expected to raise more than the other candidates, and boy did she.  Kirkpatrick brought in almost $330K and finished with $669K cash-on-hand which is well more than her 3 opponents combined. 

U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe) raised $337,000 during the second quarter of the year, according to his campaign manager Seth Scott. Scott told PolitickerAZ.com that Mitchell has now raised $1.71 million for his re-election, and now has a cash on hand balance of $1.37 million.

The new totals indicate that Mitchell raised almost twice as much as the most prolific fundraiser in the Republican field, David Schweikert. Schweikert, who is running to win the 5th Congressional District Republican nomination to face Mitchell in November, has not released official numbers yet, but they will be in the $160,000 to $180,000 range for the quarter. Susan Bitter Smith is one of two candidates in the 5th district Republican race who has not yet released her fundraising totals, and may put up an impressive showing. However, it would be a major coup if she outdid Schweikert in the second quarter.