fundraising

The latest financial reports filed with the secretary of state's office show that the state Democratic committees have a significant financial advantage over their Republican opponents.

The New Hampshire State Democratic Caucus has $89,073 left for the remaining days of the campaign, while the Senate Republican Victory PAC has $10,895 remaining in its account.

8th Congressional District challenger Darcy Burner has raised more money than any other Democratic U.S. House challenger in the entire country, according to a report by Congressional Quarterly.

Burner, who has raised $3.2 million this cycle, comes in 4th overall behind three Republicans. But considering two of them are largely self-financed, Burner is technically the second best funded challenger in the United States.

She is 7th overall in terms of cash on hand, with $771,000.

Congressman John Olver is going into the election with a large cash-on-hand advantage over Republican challenger Nathan Bech, according to the candidates' 3rd Quarter Federal Election Commission reports.

U.S. Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst)Olver, an Amherst Democrat, raked in $98,000 in the 3rd Quarter and finished with $157,000 in his bank account. Bech finished the quarter having raised $17,000 and having just $8,600 in his campaign coffer.

Bech has also loaned his campaign nearly $63,000 during this election cycle and has yet to pay himself back.

Olver spent more than $137,000 during the quarter, most of which went toward a media buy. He paid a Washington, D.C., media shop nearly $31,000 to produce ads and spent $76,000 purchasing airtime for them.

In the Republican primary in Senate District 7, Andy Sanborn (R-Loudon) raised five times more money than his primary opponent Larry Elliott (R-Antrim).

Over the past three months Sanborn raised $21,550 and ended the period with a surplus of $9,081 while Elliott raised $4,225 and closed the period with $1,261 cash on hand.

The committees to elect state representatives ended the filing period almost even in fundraising amounts, but the Democrats lead the Republicans in cash on hand, according to numbers filed Wednesday.

The Committee to Elect House Democrats reported that they raised almost $20,000 this cycle, while the House Republican Victory PAC raised $17,180. However the Democrats ended the period with a $72,890 surplus while the Republicans have $45,994 cash available.

The latest financial figures submitted by the Democratic and Republican candidates running for state Senate show a stark fundraising disparity that favors Democrats.

Earlier Wednesday, the Senate Democrats reported a combined total of $1.7 million, while the Senate Republican Victory political action committee reported a surplus of $73,098. During the summer the Republican PAC raised $54, 254 and spent $18, 829.

Earlier this week, state Sen. Molly Kelly (D-Keene) emailed supporters in an attempt to raise money before the next fundraising deadline.

Kelly is hoping to raise $7,000 by August 18, the deadline when candidates must submit their next round of fundraising numbers.

Two of the state's Democratic challengers for U.S. House seats ended the month of July having raised more money than the Republican incumbent they are running against. And it's not the first time for either.

8th District Democrat Darcy Burner raised $350,837 in the month of July, much of it on the strength of a national ActBlue outreach after she and her family lost their home to a fire at the beginning of the month, more than triple that of Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) who brought in $115,474, the Times is reporting.

A fundraising letter addressed to Daniel Hoffheimer from the campaign of U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) has set off a tiff in the race for Ohio's 2nd Congressional district.

Schmidt is being challenged by Dr. Victoria Wulsin (D-Indian Hill) and businessman David Krikorian (I-Madeira).

Hamilton County Democratic Party chair Tim Burke responded to the fundraising letter by calling on Schmidt to "clarify who she believes is drilling off the coast of Florida and whether or not she is trying to raise funds based on a claim that China or Cuba is drilling near our shores."

The line is a reference to Schmidt's assertion on the House floor on June 5 that "the Chinese are drilling off the coast of Florida with their new energy partner, Cuba." This point has been proven not to be accurate.

The Congressional Research Service states, "While there has been some concern about China's potential involvement in offshore deepwater oil projects, to date its involvement in Cuba's oil sector has been focused on onshore oil extraction in Pinar del Rio province through its state-run China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec)."

Shmidt's fundraising letter says that Democrats have decided to attack her for pointing out that "Cuba was drilling off our shores" instead of engaging in "meaningful dialogue about the need for energy independence." The letter further says that the "Chinese and others have partnered with Cuba to drill for oil."

The statement from the Hamilton Democratic Party points out that Schmidt has refused to retract her statement made on the House floor. In response to the wording in the fundraising letter, Burke said, "Apparently in her efforts to frighten the citizens of the Second Congressional District into believing the red menace is about to come ashore, Congresswoman Schmidt cannot decide which red menace - the Chinese red menace or the Cuban red menace."

In Spokane's 6th Legislative District, where Republicans are intent on recapturing Rep. Don Barlow's position 1 seat, which he won by a mere 260 votes in 2006 after narrowly losing to former Rep. John Serben in 2004, the heat is rising as the August 19 "top two" primary rapidly approaches. The Spokesman-Review's Richard Roesler reports on the race today, notably the online bickering between the two Republican opponents, Mel Lindauer and Kevin Parker, and their supporters.

Some of the key issues the two are battling are local ties, with Lindauer hitting Parker over time spent in the district, and money sources, with Parker highlighting Lindauer's heavily out of district fundraising. Right now both candidates have about $20,000 in the bank, and three weeks to differentiate themselves among Spokane Republicans as the best opponent for Rep. Barlow.