The pre-primary FEC reports are in. They cover the roughly 8 week time period between July 1 and August 25. During that time, Reed raised $123K and spent $99K. He has $361K in the bank. Zeller raised $94K, spent $130K and has $50K in the bank.
The anonymous commenter who pointed this out says that Zeller is "hemorrhaging cash", but keep in mind that he's only been raising cash for a few months. It's just tough to get a campaign off the ground -- Reed's been raising money for more than a year, so he's got a good head start.
Reed's fundraising is unimpressive. By this time in the last cycle, Massa had raised $1.3 million, twice Reed's total, and he had $180K more in the bank than Reed.
Comments
Rotten,
I am a little confused at times about this blog. I enjoy it and read it when I am up here, however I need to ask this question. Is the mission of this blog to objectively report on the 29th district or support the Democrat candiddate in the 29th district? Please do not be offended I think either one is fine and it's your blog and your time and effort, I was just curious as to what you believe it is you are doing.
For the record I can vote for neither and am impressed with either. I am registered in Texas 14 where I live 3 weeks out of the month. My rep is Ron Paul and you know where you stand with him.
Neither. The mission is to write about the happenings in the 29th district from my point of view, trying to be fair, but recognizing that I'm a Democrat and see things from that perspective.
That said, for this particular post, I think my analysis is a pretty fair picture of how things are going. Zeller's fundraising is in line with a challenger who has little chance of winning. Reed's is mediocre - well below average for a contested race, though this race probably isn't really in that category.
Also, I have to say that I find the Zeller/Reed matchup pretty dull and haven't been tending this blog as I was in the days when Massa was challenging Kuhl. That was an interesting race. This one isn't.
I don't have a problem with Ron Paul, btw. I disagree with some of his positions, but I agree with more of what he says than with, say, John Boehner.
Thats a lot like CNN. (or on the flip Fox news for that matter) it is well done and interesting but you watch and it becomes obvious they are reporting the news from a perspective.
As a factual point you have done a good job reporting, by delivering the numbers and I can't disagree with your analysis. I still believe it's inconsequential, like you said Reed has had a big jump and Zeller appears to be someone who the democrats have said "please we just need a body on the ticket". As an interesting side note his mother appears to be a nice lady and a good mom, and her injection here was interesting (assuming it was her) but I question the discipline of a campaign that allows someones mother to make such comments. (Obama got michelle to shut up fast).
Yes both Reed and Zeller are mediocre thats for sure. It is obvious when a dedicating blog such as this one turns into comments like the one I am making now. Massa in the race would have made it much more interesting.
Turning to the title of this post, have you seen any party money coming in? It does not appear Zeller has reached any threshold where the party would be willing to help out and Reed appears to have a good enough advantage where the party would think its better to spend their money elsewhere.
I couldn't tell you where Reed stands on much of anything, which means he's in the mold of Amo Houghton and Randy Kuhl -- bland conservatives. It seems the southern tier likes their congressmen to be forgettable characters. Of course Massa was the huge exception to that rule, but after his creepy display the rural regions of NY seem to be retreating to their comfort zone of mediocrity.
Zeller is a real puzzle. What were the Democratic county chairs who picked him thinking? Seems like a nice guy, but not a serious candidate.
Could be several things:
* throwaway. Any party that throws somebody under 30 out as a Congressional candidate is usually giving up any chance to win. They could place hope on the State Senate remaining in Democrats' hands and let the gerrymanderers help them in 2012.
* CIA black-ops election fraud. A dubious longshot, but possible, given Zeller's record.
* trying to emulate Massa's path to victory as closely as possible with a military vet who'd spent some time in DC. Consider what happened in NY-26: Jack Davis was competitive with Tom Reynolds, but when the dynamics changed and Dems chose a more traditional candidate, they got pummeled. Unfortunately, Matt isn't as much of a campaigner as Eric was, and the Massa comparisons, at this point, aren't exactly favorable.
I'm thinking it was some combination of 1 and 3.
Looks like Zeller has decided to make things more interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Yf7yn9JIU
He makes a good point. Where's the money that Tom says he didn't see a penny of?
I agree it would be interesting if it were new. What would really have made it interesting would have been a right wing third party candidate to tighten it up. Reed is not going ot take any chances and will stick with vanilla politics. I have a suggestion to spice it up a little. Maybe Zellers mother could could get arrested slapping some anonymous blogger that said something bad about her son?
Tom was a partner to raising more than $1 million in PRIVATE capital to restore this historic building and return it to productive use. The matching Restore New York grant has been consistently misrepresented as going to Tom personally. The grant money was applied for by the VILLAGE OF BATH, not Tom Reed. Further, the money has not even been disbursed yet.
Any assertions that Tom received any money are 100% false. This is public money and the records are public. As we have done for the last year, we challenge anyone to show one shred of evidence that this public money was disbursed to Tom. No one can produce any proof whatsoever that these allegations are true.
The state democrats began this misrepresentation in July 2009 when Tom announced his challenge to then Congressman Massa and it continues to be repeated. We will continue to try to set the record straight as the lies continue.
Now that is interesting Tim Kolpien. Someone needs to tell Zellers mother this is how its handled when you think people are lying about the candidate.
Does Tom Reed have a twin? Or is he really just that generic a candidate?
http://billhudackforcongress.com/
That is really strange.
Will the Real Bill Hudak please stand up? Please Stand up?
http://www.hudakforcongress.com/
Apparently Zeller's campaign has finally decided to do something about their slow fund raising and hire a finance assistant. Found this on a job posting site.
Finance Assistant
Employer: Zeller for Congress (NY-29)
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Job Type: Campaign/PAC
Description:
Matt Zeller for Congress, the Democratic nominee in a competitive, northeast, open seat House race, is looking to hire a finance assistant to join our team.
This individual should be highly disciplined and energetic. The successful candidate should have some campaign experience, familiar with NGP or willingness to learn, be familiar with online fundraising programs, be willing to work long and irregular hours, have a keen sense of detail and organization, and enjoy working in a team environment.
Roles & Responsibilities: Conduct donor researchAssist with online fundraising program including email development Assist in tracking donor contributions and expensesManage all thank you lettersAssist with event planning including invitations, follow up calls, prospecting for new eventsStaff candidate at some fundraising eventsSalary commensurate with experience. Interested applicants should email a resume and writing sample to jobs@zellerforcongress.com