Monday, 21 July 2008
2nd District Race Virtually Over?
« Elendil's Fitness Plan: Step 1 - Commit | Main | Northup Closing Gap On Yarmuth! »Last week I talked about how raising money in a campaign separates the wheat from the chaff. It turns out I am not the only one who thinks that way. Leading political analyst for Roll Call magazine, Stuart Rothenberg, has a similar take and it doesn't bode well for Boswell.
It's no longer the time for mere scenarios or fundraising polling memos. Now is the time for serious candidates to show they have the fundraising energy and prowess to run top-shelf campaigns.
The latest round of fundraising numbers shows that some Congressional hopefuls have established themselves as credible candidates, while others need to find an explanation for their weak totals.
The weakest showings? How about three of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "emerging races," all of which might be migrating to a new DCCC submerging races category?
Kentucky 2nd district hopeful David Boswell was promoted by some Democrats as a strong contender for retiring Rep. Ron Lewis' (R) open seat. Yes, said Democrats about the Owensboro-Bowling Green district, it's conservative, but the Democratic state Senator is a good fit for it.
Well, Boswell's June 30 cash-on-hand total of $45,000 should end that talk. Republican nominee Brett Guthrie's $661,000 in the bank means that, barring a total turnaround of finances, this race is over.
At the time that fund raising numbers came out last week, I thought that Boswell's poor showing would make it unlikely for him to win. I felt that Guthrie's money advantage should allow him to easily pull away from Boswell. It turns out that Rothenberger feels the same way.
