The campaign finance reports that came out yesterday do not reveal the current situations of the five campaigns for executive. They only show the money the candidates had raised by December 31st. But they do show the significant head starts that Scott McDonell and Joe Parisi benefitted from. (All numbers cited are rounded figures)
McDonell, who began his campaign on Nov. 24, ended December with $52,000, including $32,000 raised and a $20,000 transfer from his county supervisor campaign account. The funds look as though they're paying off. McDonell is the first candidate to release a TV ad, and it seems that he and Parisi are the only candidates with Google keyword ads out there. Although I was unable to find Parisi ads online, Lukas at Forward Lookout came across some when searching for liberal Supreme Court candidate Joanne Kloppenburg. In fact, when I googled "Joe Parisi for county executive," I didn't come across Parisi's website, I came across McDonell's. As Lukas, who knows a thing or two about computers, discusses, it seems McDonell's ad is targeted towards those searching for "Joe Wineke," "Zach Brandon" and "Joe Parisi."
While even Parisi, who began his campaign on Nov. 23, lagged McDonell in December fundraising, with only $22,000 raised, the deficit he suffers is no where near that of Wineke, Brandon and Bruskewitz.
While Wineke, who declared on Dec. 15, raised an impressive $14,000 in the last two weeks of December, Brandon, who declared on Dec. 8, declared $2,500 and Bruskewitz raised no money at all.
Both Brandon and Bruskewitz told The Sconz that their fundraising operations have picked up in January, and say the report that is due next Tuesday will indicate their campaigns' financial strength.
Brandon, whose job at the Department of Commerce did not end until the beginning of January, says he spent December "creating jobs," and that the $2,500 he received in December were unsolicited. It was not until January, he says, that he began making fundraising calls.
Bruskewitz says the response from constituents has been great in the past several weeks. "A lot of people agree with me and are willing to open their wallets," she said.
We shall see. We won't be able to see the results of the January fundraising until Feb. 7, at which point the primary will be 8 days away. However, my guess is the result of that finance report won't matter much unless Wineke, Brandon and Bruskewitz get on the airwaves before then and give voters a counter to the message they're getting from McDonell.
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