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Update: Casey Fundraising Crushes Smith 3 To 1

Smith was trounced by Casey in fundraising for the second quarter.

Update: If Tom Smith did OK this month, Casey did great. Smith netted $2.28M – $1.5M from himself. But Casey had his best quarter yet, raising $1.9M and now with $6.22M cash on hand.

Casey’s total for the quarter includes funds from April from his pre-primary FEC report, as well as $1.538 million for the shorter period covered by the report this month. The pre-primary report covered January 1 to April 4.

With these numbers, it is pretty clear that the incumbent Senator gave his opponent a thumping in Q2.

The quarter, which stretched from April 1 to June 30, earned Smith $2.28 million cash on hand, with over $700,000 from outside contributions – more than double the donations from Q1.

$1.5 million was from a donation directly from the candidate to his own campaign. He donated over $4.5 million to himself in the primary, bringing his total personal contributions to $6 million plus.

The campaign said that 3,531 people donated to Smith in Q2, with 89 percent of donations coming from within the state, with $146.83 being the average contribution. Overall, 90 percent of people gave $199 or less.

Keep in mind that, during one of those three months, Smith was still in a contested primary and wasn’t focused on fundraising against Casey, but beating out his other opponents in the five-man race as PA inched closer to the primary.

Even so, in the first quarter Smith handily outraised his opponent Steve Welch – the state party-endorsed candidate in the race. Smith also outspent him.

Although the lion’s share of Smith’s money was self-contributions (which remains the case in Q2), he still managed to outraise Welch 2-to-1 in outside contributions – $300K to Welch’s $150K. Between January and March, Smith spent $3 million with $2 million left over.

These numbers look promising for Smith, but despite his fundraising, and easy victory in April, he has still lagged behind Casey in every poll – and usually by double digits.

This week’s poll puts him behind by 14 points, 39 to 53. This margin is pretty much in line with the poll result average over the last few months in the state.

Incumbent Sen. Bob Casey raised $1.46 million in Q1 and had $5.2 million on hand. Data from Q2 was not available.

12 Responses

  1. MollyP. You say Tom Smith is running because he cares about his children and grandchildren? You may be right…. There’s a lot of federal jobs out there he can give them if he’s elected. Jobs in Armstrong County aren’t as abundant. He’s already bought his daughter a job in the Armstrong County courthouse. He’ll do even more for his top priority ( himself) if people are foolish enough to fall for his lines.

  2. Could we have a breakdown of the names and amounts contributed by unions to Casey? Also, how much of his money on hand came from George Soros or one of Soros’ thinly veiled organizations.

  3. I remember reading somewhere that Smith didn’t begin investing his own money into the general election race until this quarter. We’ll see what the numbers look like at the end of September. And Casey’s been raising money since 2007 without any substantive primary challenge to worry about.

  4. Just because you say he’s a nice Guy doesn’t make him quafied to be US Senator. I’m a nice Guy that doesn’t make me quafied. I have heard Smith speak several times he is no way ready to be US Senator. His policies on working people will hurt the middle class, he supports the extreme right wing agenda. He started the Indiana Armstrong Patriots group which supports the extreme Tea Party agenda. Their thinking is take everything you can from the Worker and give it to the Corporations. The Corporations thinks he is a nice guy but working people don’t. There in Armstrong County we have had enough of Smith’s corupt agenda just ask the residents about buying a job for his daugther and the school districts.

  5. To the NAY Sayers of Tom Smith: Let me tell you a true story. The day after the primary election I returned home to find a phone message from my sister-in-law, a devout and dedicated Democrat. Her message was: I bet you guys were celebrating in Pittsburgh last night with “your guy” (Tom Smith). That is GREAT!!! We up here in Scranton are tired of Casey (remember Casey is from the Scranton area) not listening to us that we are going to VOTE for “YOUR GUY come November.” I am still in shock! I don’t know what changed her mind. Maybe it is the fact that since her stroke last October, she has been denied needed physical therapy by her insurance company. Or, may it is that her physician son-in-law recently joined a medical practice in Scranton and he knows what is ahead for him in his profession as a young doctor under ObamaTAX. Don’t assume that every Democrat will be voting for B.O. and his rubberstamp, Casey!!! As for Tom Smith, he is a hard working, generous man with a backbone and a conviction that what is happening right under our noses in the USA is wrong. And, he will fight to protect those who love this country now and in the future using his own resources if necessary. Thank GOD for men like him!!!

  6. So Tom is a bum? A bum is a disolute idol fellow according to the dictionary. The one who thinks Tom Smith is a bum never met him, nor ever tried to get aquainted with him, nor observed his life.

    The person who asks why would they give their hard earned money to help Tom arrive into office does not understand that Tom probably gave more of his hard earned money to help his community and people in need that he knew and did not know than that person ever made and even will make. Tom has helped promote programs for others actively. I would ask his critic what he has done this way.

    I think that comparing Tom to the ant is a complement. Tom is one of the hardest workers of any men I have ever observed. In a quiet and persistent manner, I would say that he exemplifies having moved the rubber tree just like the illustration given…over and over. It is because of this very characteristic that his opponent needs to prepare for retirement.

  7. Just what makes that little ole ant
    Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant?
    Anyone knows an ant can’t
    Move a rubber tree plant

    But he’s got hi-i-igh hopes, he’s got hi-i-igh hopes
    He’s got high apple pi-i-ie-in-the-sk-y-y hopes
    So, any time you’re gettin’ low,
    ‘stead of lettin’ go,
    just remember that ant:

    Oops, there goes another rubber tree
    Oops, there goes another rubber tree
    Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant

  8. If Smith is so worried about the country, instead of wasting his money on TV and getting the media rich he should start programs that would help people.

  9. Why do liberals need to resort to name calling? Tom Smith is an honorable man who cares about this country & is concerned for his children & grand children. So much so that he is willing to spend a considerable amount of his own money to defeat an incumbent democrat Senator. Do you have any idea what it takes to do that? Estimates are around $20 million dollars. Tom Smith has invested his heart, his soul and his money into this race to revive the America that he grew up in. I don’t know a lot of people that are willing to do that, do you?

  10. Why the average citizen would give some of their hard earned money towards the campaign of a man with multi millions who could simply rely on his own funds for the race is beyond me. You want to get elected so bad, spend your own money

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