In the race for U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s seat, Republican rival Tom Smith has outspent and out-fundraised key opponent, Steve Welch. According to the Associated Press, Smith reported $2 million in his campaign account after spending almost $3 million in January, February, and March of 2012.
Although Smith was the sole funder of his own campaign during that period, the AP reports that he was able to out-fundraise Welch 2-to-1 in outside contributions, about $300K to $150K.
Welch reportedly had about $390,000 in his campaign account after spending nearly $770,000 during the period. Welch has invested $1 million into his own campaign.
Senator Casey outraised both Smith and Welch however, raising $1.46 in the first quarter and boasting $5.2 million on hand.
It marks the largest fundraising quarter of the election cycle for Casey so far. The AP reports that compared to 2006, when Casey was very financially successful during his campaign against Rick Santorum, he holds even more money in his campaign account this year.
In addition to Smith and Welch, David Christian, Sam Rohrer, and Marc Scaringi are the other three GOP hopefuls who aspire to challenge Casey this fall. Their reports were not available as of Sunday.
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10 Responses
TNaedi: Politics has ALWAYS been the playground of the rich. From Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Hamilton. “Founding Fathers,” the People who declared Independence and established the Banking System were fairly well-heeled, savvy business and land owners.
Money, money, money. That’s not what elections are all about! They are about the Constitution, and being a conservative! Moneybags-Democrat Tom Smith can’t inspire the public the way David Christian can! He is a true patriot. He even knew Ronald Reagan. The Tribune Review, our state’s best paper understands this! Vote Christian, the real conservative.
This lifelong Republican will definitely be voting for Mrs. Kane for Attorney General. That woman inspires me in a way that no jackass politician has in YEARS. Plus I think it would be good to have a Democrat running law enforcement with the other party in absolute control of everything else. It’s good sense for the taxpayers to have a little check and balance in there.
I replied to a snide remark with the same. Sounds like a wash.
All the gentleman knew that got into the race what they would most likely need to raise to compete, especially if they stayed in.
In this race the two front runners had different things. Rohrer came in with name recognition, grassroots base from 20101 and email lists. That gave him an immediate bump . Even with that , he wasn’t able to attract money or state committee support of any significance, but it kept him in the lead.
Smith had no name recognition. His support of republican candidates did make him a known quantity as well as his leadership in IAP.
So in the last month of the race, he is still out getting name recognition and Rohrer is still out trying to get funds.
And Welch, he is still looking for state committee workers to help him. Corbett pissed them off…lol.
We can’t all be rich or we’d all be poor. Basic economics that OWS never understood.
@John:
I’m am completely envious of Tom Smith and Steve Welch — both of whom I might add were Democrats until they decided it would be easier to run for office as a Republican. What I am *not* is upset with them. I never said they earned their money illegitimately. I never said I wanted to take their money from them.
I made a snide remark. But if you want to get the real gist of my opinions under the sarcasm, it’s this. I think it’s a travesty that politics is becoming the playground of the rich. I think it speaks much more to the ability and earnestness of a candidate that they can inspire others to invest in them as a candidate for higher office. I’ve had to make fundraising asks, and I’ll tell you it’s not easy even of friends and family, much less strangers.
Am I envious of Smith and Welch? Yes. I wish I was a millionaire running for Senate. I wish that was true of my life. Am I upset that they are more successful than I am? Only to the extent that they are successful and I am not. There are many realities in which the both of us are. And I actually prefer the reality where we are all rich to the reality where no one is rich.
And I’m not going to dignify that Occupy comment with a response.
@ TNardi-
That someone has the means to run their campaign and are not completely dependent on other people to finance it like the others is not their fault. The others have had years to prepare for the race and raise funds. Many of the groups they appealed to did not have the funds to support their campaigns, especially when it comes to late March-primary day.
Being upset that someone has achieved success in life and is self dependent is usually not viewed as a negative. It sounds more like an occupy wall street credo than a republican criticism.
@fireGleason -Perhaps when Gleason’s term is up Corbett will run vie for the chair as the former governor.
If Maher gets the nomination we lose for sure. Frank Pinto would make a race of it and people would do more than vote for just the party…which is why the dems get the job historically. Pinto actually talks about what the job is and isnt . Depends who wins in the primary for the AG for the dems. Not so sure Murphy will win with the Axelrod endorsement , Kane with the Clinton endorsement carries weight among PA democrats.
If State Committee had tried to clear the field for Smith in the same way they tried to clear it for Welch, we’d have a candidate heading into the fall with millions in the bank. But, we instead endorse a weak fundraiser and someone whose self-funding was a fraction of that of Smith. Let’s not forget that Gleason tried to get a convicted felon to run against Toomey, her name is Jane Orie, and he also tried to get Tom Ridge to challenge Toomey. Had Gleason succeeded, we would have lost the Senate race in 2010.
Prediction: The Democrats will win the Attorney General’s race, the Auditor General’s race, the Treasurer’s race, and the U.S. Senate race, and Obama will carry PA. Gleason will blame everyone but himself and try to hang onto power, but by then even the dim witted Tom Corbett will see the light and call for his head, because there is one thing that trumps cronyism and that is self preservation.
Self-funders to the tune of $1 and $5 mil. Must be a nice life.