Republican US House candidate Steve Daines (R-Bozeman) has now raised roughly $600,000 in his bid for Montana’s lone seat in the chamber. Meanwhile, one of his newest announced opponents on the Democratic side of the aisle, State Sen. Kim Gillan, says she raised nearly $30,000 out of the gate.
First this, from Steve Daines:
U.S. Congressional candidate Steve Daines raised more than $175,000 in the second quarter of his campaign, and $600,000 since November, evidence his message of more jobs and less government is resonating with Montanans.
Daines’ war chest swelled to more than $400,000 cash on hand for the November 2012 election.
The reporting period, which ended June 30, shows that more than 1,500 donors gave to Daines. More importantly, 87 percent of all individual donations are from Montana–people who support his message of more jobs and less government.
Democratic Congressional Candidate Kim Gillan’s (D-Billings) email to supporters:
Also, by the end of the June 30th fundraising deadline, people donated over $27,000. It is a flying start, and more than a lot of past successful Montana campaigns have raised in the same amount of time.
A Denver Post blog profiles Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ken Miller’s (R-Laurel) campaign manager William Mutch:
Mutch, a Billings native who graduated from the University of Montana, is the campaign manager for Ken Miller, a former state senator and a small businessman. Miller is one of five Republicans running to succeed Democrat Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who is term limited.
“My candidate is the favorite of the grassroots/conservative base, which is a good place to be these days,” Mutch said.
Politico: Tester raised $1.2 Million during second quarter.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester will report raising $1.2 million during the second quarter Tuesday afternoon, POLITICO has learned.
The first-term Democrat, who faces a formidable challenger in six-term GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg, brings his cash on hand total to $2.3 million.
The liberal blog “Daily Kos” sums up the Democratic gubernatorial race with this:
• MT-Gov: I feel like we’ve been quaffing a lot of tea in the Montana gubernatorial race lately. Here’s what we found at the bottom of our latest cuppa: Dem state Sen. Dave Wanzenried is terminating his gubernatorial campaign after half a year of disappointing fundraising. (He had just $19K on hand as of June 30.) While that’s certainly a good enough reason to bail, it could also be that he expects AG Steve Bullock to jump into the race — and in fact, he encouraged Bullock to do so. In the meantime, the only Democrat in the race is state Sen. Larry Jent, whose campaign appears to be almost penniless.
But wait, here’s another tea leaf, and this one might mean more: Former prosecutor and assistant AG Pam Bucy says she’s going to join the Democratic field for attorney general, the second person to do so. Both she and former state Sen. Jesse Laslovich are waiting on Bullock’s decision, but they probably have an inkling that the seat will be open.
Crossroads Tester Ad
Politico has more:
The $7 million two-week multi-ad rollout will run on national cable, network and local affiliates, targeting 11 states and is being billed as an “advocacy campaign on runaway government spending” as the debt ceiling debate reaches its apex.
Tester spot (seen above) quotes the first-term Democrat saying “you don’t pass your debts on to your kids,” before listing his votes for the stimulus, the health care law and raising the debt ceiling.
“Sorry Senator Tester, no more reckless spending, no new taxes and no more blank checks,” it closes.