HARTFORD, Conn. -
Even though the election for
Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat is still a year away, candidates are
already managing to raise -- and spend -- millions of dollars.
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, who has been struggling in the polls, pulled in $900,000 in July, August and September for his re-election bid and ended the quarter with about $2 million cash on hand, according to campaign manager Jay Howser.
Howser said the showing is impressive considering the senator was busy working on health care legislation in July and recuperating from prostate cancer surgery in August.
"We look at the quarter as a pretty big success," Howser said. The campaign expects to raise $1 million more at an Oct. 23 fundraiser in Stamford with President Barack Obama.
Senate candidates have until Thursday to file their third-quarter campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. There are eight other people considering whether to seek Dodd's Senate seat -- five Republicans, two Democrats and an independent.
Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, apparently spent the most money in the quarter.
Her campaign confirmed McMahon spent $2.05 million of her own money, more than $1 million of it for one week of television and radio advertisements in Connecticut and the pricey New York market. She also has been buying full-page ads in newspapers and peppering state Republicans with mailers.
While McMahon has pledged to spend her own money to seek the GOP nomination, preliminary reports issued by some of her Republican rivals show they are trying to keep pace with Dodd's fundraising.
Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican who leads Dodd in recent Quinnipiac University polls, raised $967,907 over the past three months. He has a little more than $1 million cash on hand. Former ambassador Tom Foley's campaign reports raising $780,000 during the last quarter and having $1.17 million in cash on hand, while money manager Peter Schiff raised about $1 million and has about $900,000 cash on hand, according to his spokesman and brother, Andrew Schiff.
Jim Barnett, Simmons' campaign manager, downplayed McMahon's big spending.
"There's no need to be harassing voters this far out," he said. "Rob Simmons is a well-known quantity. Quite frankly there are other things on voters minds right now than an election that's going to be held a year from now."
McMahon campaign spokesman Ed Patru defended the ads, saying voters want to know what the candidates will do to rein in federal spending and turn the economy around.
"That is what Linda is doing," he said. "The response has been overwhelming, and we reject the notion that people are too preoccupied to care about issues like jobs."
Messages left by The Associated Press seeking figures from Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, another GOP candidate, were not immediately returned.
Merrick Alpert, a businessman and former Air Force officer from Mystic, said he has raised $19,619 over the past quarter in his bid to challenge Dodd in the Democratic primary. Messages were left seeking figures from another potential Democratic candidate, Roger Pearson, an attorney from Greenwich.
Messages were also left with the campaign of Vincent Forras, an independent candidate from Ridgefield.
AP-ES-10-14-09 1745EDT
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, who has been struggling in the polls, pulled in $900,000 in July, August and September for his re-election bid and ended the quarter with about $2 million cash on hand, according to campaign manager Jay Howser.
Howser said the showing is impressive considering the senator was busy working on health care legislation in July and recuperating from prostate cancer surgery in August.
"We look at the quarter as a pretty big success," Howser said. The campaign expects to raise $1 million more at an Oct. 23 fundraiser in Stamford with President Barack Obama.
Senate candidates have until Thursday to file their third-quarter campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. There are eight other people considering whether to seek Dodd's Senate seat -- five Republicans, two Democrats and an independent.
Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, apparently spent the most money in the quarter.
Her campaign confirmed McMahon spent $2.05 million of her own money, more than $1 million of it for one week of television and radio advertisements in Connecticut and the pricey New York market. She also has been buying full-page ads in newspapers and peppering state Republicans with mailers.
While McMahon has pledged to spend her own money to seek the GOP nomination, preliminary reports issued by some of her Republican rivals show they are trying to keep pace with Dodd's fundraising.
Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican who leads Dodd in recent Quinnipiac University polls, raised $967,907 over the past three months. He has a little more than $1 million cash on hand. Former ambassador Tom Foley's campaign reports raising $780,000 during the last quarter and having $1.17 million in cash on hand, while money manager Peter Schiff raised about $1 million and has about $900,000 cash on hand, according to his spokesman and brother, Andrew Schiff.
Jim Barnett, Simmons' campaign manager, downplayed McMahon's big spending.
"There's no need to be harassing voters this far out," he said. "Rob Simmons is a well-known quantity. Quite frankly there are other things on voters minds right now than an election that's going to be held a year from now."
McMahon campaign spokesman Ed Patru defended the ads, saying voters want to know what the candidates will do to rein in federal spending and turn the economy around.
"That is what Linda is doing," he said. "The response has been overwhelming, and we reject the notion that people are too preoccupied to care about issues like jobs."
Messages left by The Associated Press seeking figures from Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, another GOP candidate, were not immediately returned.
Merrick Alpert, a businessman and former Air Force officer from Mystic, said he has raised $19,619 over the past quarter in his bid to challenge Dodd in the Democratic primary. Messages were left seeking figures from another potential Democratic candidate, Roger Pearson, an attorney from Greenwich.
Messages were also left with the campaign of Vincent Forras, an independent candidate from Ridgefield.
AP-ES-10-14-09 1745EDT
Peter Schiff is the only candidate I trust to actually try and control the enormous deficit we are facing. And plus, he knows economics - he saw this whole crash coming, and I think he knows how to fix it.
AliceHenne (10/15/2009, 2:51 PM )