| During the first quarter of the much watched money primary, Sen. John
Edwards finished first, raising $7.4 million, followed by Sen. John Kerry
($7.0 million), Rep. Dick Gephardt ($3.5 million), Sen. Joe Lieberman ($3.0
million), former Gov. Howard Dean ($2.6 million), and Sen. Bob Graham ($1.1
million). Rounding out the field with less than $1 million raised
were Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Amb. Carol Moseley Braun; Rev. Al Sharpton
did not file despite looking very much like a candidate.
Sen. Kerry, benefitting from $2,650,000 tranferred from his Senate re-election campaign at the end of 2002, finished with the most cash on hand at $8.9 million, followed by Sen. Edwards ($5.7 million), Rep. Gephardt ($4.9 million), Gov. Dean ($2.1 million), Sen. Lieberman ($1.8 million), and Sen. Graham ($1.1 million). See also: Center for Responsive Politics' 4/17/03 release on 1st Quarter Reports
*Gephardt 1st Q total
of $5.95 million includes $2.4 million transferred from his congressional
campaign committee.
Notes:
Edwards: The committee held its first fundraiser on the evening of Jan. 4, 2003 at Greenshields in downtown Raleigh. The Edwards campaign was first to announce its first quarter numbers on March 31; the figure of $7.4 million proved to be the highest of any of the candidates, surprising observers and giving a boost to the campaign. However, the feat was tarnished somewhat a couple of weeks later when the Washington Post reported Edwards' campaign was returning $10,000 in contributions to employees of a Little Rock law firm after a clerk told reporters her boss had said he would reimburse her for contributing to Edwards' campaign. See. Thomas B. Edsall and Dan Balz. "Edwards Returns Law Firm's Donations." Washington Post, April 18, 2003, page A1. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, top geographical areas for the campaign were California - $1.139 million (16 percent); Texas - $1.002 million (14 percent); North Carolina - about $928,000 (13 percent); and New York - about $898,000 (12 percent). See also 1st Q Disbursements. Gephardt: The $5,951,721.26 includes $2,403,521.36 million transferred from Gephardt's congressional campaign committee. Thus Gephardt raised $3.6 million in the quarter, which was seen as somewhat disappointing when compared to Edwards' $7.4 million and Kerry's $7 million. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, top geographical areas for the campaign were Missouri - $871,642 (27 percent); California - $540,000 (17 percent); and New York $291,570 (9 percent). $172,405.38 of the money raised came from 60 political committees; in addition to contributions from many labor PACS, the campaign also took in contributions from five Las Vegas casino PACs. See also 1st Q Disbursements. Graham: Although a handful of contributions were recorded in late February, well over 99 percent of the money came in in March. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 89 percent of the money Graham raised ($960,299) came from Florida donors. Contributions from six political committees totalled $27,000 (Association of Floral Importers of Florida, FPL PAC, J.M. Family Enterprises Inc. PAC, Progress Energy Employees' Federal PAC, Southern Wine & Spirits PAC, and Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association). The campaign reported making only three disbursements: BTS Strategies Inc. (Miami) - $7,500.00 for fundraising consulting; Campaign Victory Consultants (Fort Lauderdale) - $3,750.00 for fundraising consulting; and Robert L. Gibson, Jr. (Lake Wales) - $1,194.25 for printing expense. Kerry: Contributions totalled $7,006,492.00 and came from approximately 15,000 individuals. The bulk of Kerry's fundraising came through a series of national "Kickoffs" around the country. February 26th Los Angeles and Orange County - February 27th San Diego - March 4th Cherry Hill, NJ - March 11th New York - March 12th Boston - March 13th San Francisco - March 18th Detroit - March 19th Chicago - March 20th Miami - March 21st Palm Beach - March 25th Edison, NJ - March 26th Washington, DC - March 27th Rhode Island and Philadelphia. There were also smaller events and direct mail and $450,000 in contributions were raised via the Internet. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, top geographical areas for the campaign were Massachusetts - $1.654 million (25 percent); California - $1.539 million (23 percent); and New York -about $898,000 (14 percent). The campaign noted (4/15/03 release) that the $8 million cash on hand "is the most any Democratic Presidential candidate has ever had in the bank at this point in the nominating calendar." By comparison at the end of the 1st Q in 2000 Gore had $6,850,544 cash on hand and Bradley $2,827,245. See also 1st Q Disbursements. Kucinich: The biggest single receipient of campaign funds was Tree Media Group (Santa Monica, CA) which received a total of $40,806.71 for doing the website. Lieberman: The first fundraiser for the committee was held January 15, 2003 in NYC. The campaign raised $300,000 in January, $600,000 in February and $2.1 million in March. In a press release Craig Smith observed, "Despite a late start, once our fundraising operation was firmly in place, we hit our stride, raising over $2.1 million or approximately 70% of our total in a single month." According to the Center for Responsive Politics, top geographical areas for the campaign were Connecticut - $643,210 (23 percent); New York - $556,710 (20 percent); California - $350,300 (12 percent); and Florida - $238,300 (8 percent). Of the $3 million total raised, $50,600 (about 1.7 percent) came from 26 political committees. See also 1st Q Disbursements. Moseley Braun: The report showed 67 individual contributors (plus one in-kind contribution from the campaign manager and $4,678.94 from unitemized donors). The campaign paid $7,646 to Illumina Interactive of Boston, MA for web services and listed an additional $10,675 in Debts and Obligations owed to Illumina Interactive for web programming. Other major disbursements were $5,000 total consulting fees to Mia Phifer of Chicago and $4,000 in consulting fees to Andrea Pringle of Washington, DC. |
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Copyright © 2003 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.