Incumbent Congressman Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Delaware) has raised more than $2 million during the 2012 election cycle, his campaign announced Tuesday, with nearly $500,000 of that coming in during the second quarter alone.
His challenger George Badey is lagging far behind, according to OpenSecrets.org. He raised less than a quarter of a million dollars. However, Badey has maintained that he has one thing on his side: the voters.
The Badey campaign surveyed 400 voters in the district, and reported that they favor Badey 41 to 38 after hearing Meehan’s record on Medicare and women’s health. As with any internal poll, the results should be taken with a grain of salt, as they are largely done to boost fundraising or show campaign viability.
It was presumed that Badey aimed to do both, given that this race was largely overlooked until the campaign released the poll.
But Badey’s claim – that he is gaining popularity and shrinking the gap between himself and Meehan – is significantly contradicted by the fundraising numbers, which shows the incumbent Rep. with a wide margin.
While Badey has declined to comment on his opponent’s financial achievement, Meehan said in a press release that in order to see which candidate the people support, one only need to look at the numbers.
“Surpassing the $2 million milestone is a true testament to the strength of our campaign organization and to the groundswell of support for our agenda to create jobs and grow our economy,” he said.
“Our success over the last year and a half positions us well to communicate my message to the residents of the new 7th Congressional District.”
A rally will be held by the Badey camp Wednesday afternoon in front of Rep. Meehan’s Springfield office. The purpose of the event is to call attention to Meehan’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the Badey team says will help thousands of people and businesses in District 7.
16 Responses
Doesn’t Pat Meehan signing the Grover Nordquist pledge tell us most everything we need to know about him? Does he not have the ability to think on his own? He and the Republican Party appear to practice Politboro politics– get rid of your critical thinking, jettison any creative ideas for working across the aisle, get in line and follow the pre-ordained party script. Badey IS a man of the people and will fight for the those disadvantaged by big money interests- just as he has done for years in his law practice.
Just look at Badey’s picks for Radnor Township and you will see how he views the role of government. Under democrat control their has been ethics violations, massive tax hikes, huge spike in violent crime and out of control debt. Radnor will swallow itself whole unless we change direction away from how Badey wants it to go.
George Badey is a nice guy, a good guy with good ideas and a good heart.
Pat Meehan is someone most in his district, me included, do not know, at all. He has done nothing in his two years as Congressman to explain his ideas or show that he is a good guy wiht a good heart. It is impossible and irresponsible to blindly state he is a well-liked Congressman…a fairer statement is that he is a little known congressman. He had a career before Congress in political positions as the DELCO DA and US Attorney for EDPA under GW Bush and Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum’s campaign gurus and chief of staff. That is what we know of Pat Meehan.
Promoting former career prosecutors to jobs that do not involve cut and dried answers like guilt or innocence is not a natural progression. As a Congressman, the ideal candidiate is someone who can exhibit real compassion and understanding real people problems, how to navigate political systems, and how to work as part of a unit is fair different from being the top prosecutor where you hold almost as opposed to a dictatorial power, unilateral authority over prosecution decisions, and are able to hold unaccountable sway over the actions of your minions. Look how Chris Christie is handling well-deserved opposition in New Jersey? See how Tom Corbett is afraid to answer questions in public about his nonsensical agenda. Pat Meehan avoids town halls and other opportunities to hear what his constituents really think instead of the sound of his party loyalists in the echo chamber.
boy, you republicans are sure in hateful mode today!
Badey probably mistakenly got even that money because a bunch of people who really like the movie “Sideways” thought Paul Giamatti was running.
George Badey appears to be trying to market himself as a populist candidate, or a “man of the people” all the while he sits on a pile of money he made chasing ambulances. Attempting to say this gap is the work of “big business donations” is absurd. Badey can’t fund-raise because the race is a forgone conclusion. Not only has Meehan done an excellent job representing the 7th district, Badey has nothing to bring to the table except attacking others. That attitude will not allow him to cross party lines to serve the best interests of the 7th district as Pat as. Also Rick, I think you should be more concerned about making sure your group doesn’t get eaten by zombies rather than commenting on politics stories. Although I guess you guys have established internet connection which is a positive step.
This is just another example of the special interests in this country trying to buy themselves an election. These PACs and large individual donors are hoping that by pouring enough $ into the campaign, they can keep another congressman in their pocket. When Badey wins (because the people in this district WILL realize which candidate is the one fighting for OUR interests and not the big money), they will be sorely disappointed.
Congratulations Pat! Its nice to know an honorable politician who is fighting for the issues that matter here in Pennsylvania is being rewarded for his efforts. We need more politicians like Pat who will hold this administration accountable and are willing to reach across the aisle to come up with solutions that will help create jobs and get our fiscal house back in order. How can some washed up Mummer complete with that? Badey has no record to run on and no plan to fix the monumental problems this country is facing. No wonder he has to put out a skewed poll to even garner the slightest bit of attention
I love how Meehan has the nerve to brag about the money he gets from his big business buddies around the country. I bet 90% of it is from outside the district. What a fraud.
Badey is funding most of his campaign out of his obnoxious, ambulance chasing allowance. Also, he brags about his experience as a Mummer while touting his stance on women’s issues…apparently, supporting prostitution is how this progressive politician will look out for women in this district.
Maybe if Badey spent more time formulating his own opinions on issues instead of only attacking Pat Meehan, he would have a leg to stand on. Pointing out problems is useless if you do not offer your own solutions, something Pat has done a fantastic job of in his time in office. Also, conducting a poll of 400 people, obviously a pathetically small sample size, with blatently leading questions which serve only to attack Pat Meehan instead of offering solutions of his own, and STILL only coming away with a 3 point advantage shows how far behind George Badey remains in the race. Pat Meehan isn’t leading the polls because he’s raised more money, he’s raised more money because he’s leading the polls and has served the 7th congressional district fantastically.
First of all, Badey’s monetary efforts so far are pitiful at best. I mean, seriously, I pity the poor bastard. He tries to claim he is in the same league as a proven, well-liked congressman like Pat, all the while raising less than 1/8th the amount of money? Good luck, jackass…you’re going to get demolished in this election. And did you do that poll on Facebook? 400 people is clearly a stellar sample size for a district with hundreds of thousands of people. Take a damn statistics class before you start parading some insignificant shit like that around. Come November we’ll see what he is actually capable of…next to nothing. He hasn’t defined a clear plan for any issue he claims to care about and seems to only want to attack the Congressman.
Badey is just a cross dressing alcoholic masquerading as a politician. He also bears a striking resemblance to Paul Giamatti…
Meehan claims that contributions to his campaign are a show of his campaign’s connection to the voters, that’s hilarious… huge chunks of that money are from outside donors, which last time I checked, don’t get to vote in the 7th district. Just look at his page on opensecrets.org, he gets half his money from PAC’s and the other half from large individual donors… only 2% comes from small individual donations. Meanwhile, the Badey campaign hasn’t even released their newest numbers, but we’re already hearing about Meehan’s great “groundswell of support.” The only support he has is from the special interests and the 1%, not the voters.
meehan was elected on a tidal wave of money from the Koch brothers, and no doubt hopes to repeat.
luckily, George Badey doesn’t need to match the $, he needs our VOTES and plenty of people are sick of Pat “job creator” Meehan’s devotion to Grover Norquist over the welfare of his constituents
Badey has his hands full against that kind of money, but it’s doable.
The race to watch though is Stilp/Barletta in my book.
Most candidates spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just trying to get the name recognition Gene already has. Plus, he has tremendous crossover appeal with Republicans and Independents.
Hopefully it doesn’t come down to money in that race. The party line democrats aren’t helping Gene at all. At least he won’t owe them any favors when he wins. He sure as hell isn’t getting any from them.