4th District Fundraising Less Than Promising For Dems
April 16th, 2008 at 10:44am Geraldine
While most of the attention paid to Iowa fundraising numbers in the first quarter of this year went to the 3rd District primary, it’s worth noting that there is a Democratic primary in the 4th District too. However, the haul for Democrats there was much less promising. Two of the candidates, William Meyers and Kevin Miskell have not even filed reports with the FEC. This is a sign that they have either not raised enough money to need to file reports or they are too incompetent to get their information in on time. One suspects that the former is the case but no matter what the scenario, it does not mark them as promising candidates in the primary (let alone in a general election against a well-funded long-time incumbent).
Of the remaining two candidates, Kurt Meyer raised $130,000 but, of that sum, $100,000 came from Meyer himself. Of the remaining $30,000, there are two noteworthy donors. The Mitchell County Democratic Party gave Meyer $500 and 2006 Democratic nominee for the 4th District, Selden Spencer, gave $250. It is also worth noting that 85% of Meyer’s itemized donations came from out of state. However, Meyer ended the quarter with $108,000 cash on hand.
Becky Greenwald raised almost $24,000 although $3,500 of that sum came from her own pocket. Of the rest, almost half came from donors with the last name Garst. As Greenwald’s mother was married to a member of the Garst family, it’s not a surprise that she was able to take advantage of her familial connections for her campaign. In fact, one of the Garsts, Marilyn Garst of Coon Rapids, has already maxed out to Greenwald for both the primary and general elections. This means that nearly 10% of the money Greenwald raised in the quarter cannot be used in a primary. However, as Greenwald was holding a major fundraiser with Tom Vilsack after the end of the quarter, one suspects her fundraising will increase. But in the meantime, she ended the quarter with just over $20,000 on hand.
Both Greenwald and Meyer are strong candidates but it’s still unclear what the result of what will almost certainly be a sleepy, low-turnout primary will be. While Greenwald will stand out as the only woman on the ballot (and Meyer has a very similar last name to Meyers), there are also very competitive primaries in Mason City and Decorah, which will drive turnout in the northern part of the district. As Meyer is from Northern Iowa while Greenwald is from Dallas County, this may help him if voters base their decision on geography. But then again, most voters may not know who any of the congressional candidates even are, let alone where they are from.
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Entry Filed under: State Politics, US House, Tom Latham
Related Searches: garst family, selden spencer, tom vilsack, william meyers, familial connections
7 Comments Add your own
1. Lori | April 16th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I notice however, that in the past 24 hours since she got her website going, Becky has raised almost $1800 on ACT Blue. I suspect she’s just getting started.
2. desmoinesdem | April 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Becky Greenwald’s mother Marilyn was once married to the late David Garst (not Becky herself).
3. desmoinesdem | April 16th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
To make myself more clear, the Marilyn Garst who has maxed out to Becky Greenwald’s campaign is Greenwald’s mother.
Greenwald had a big fundraiser last week in Waukee with a high-powered host committee (including the Vilsacks). I imagine that brought in a nice chunk of change.
My guess is that more than one candidate will have enough cash to do some tv advertising before June 3.
4. Geraldine | April 16th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
The post has been corrected. Thank you for pointing that out.
I think you’re right and that both Meyer and Greenwald will be on television before this is over. I suspect the election will be like the 2006 primary for Governor and that both campaigns will be much more focused on television advertising than on any sort of field program.
5. treez | April 16th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Re Kevin Miskell not having made an FEC filing for the first quarter: Kevin just got his campaign office opened on April 1, two weeks after officially becoming a candidate in the 4th race. His first fundraiser was on April 4, and he has another one scheduled in Ames for May 3, so he’ll have an FEC filing for the second quarter.
But don’t think that just because Becky Greenwald has a lot of rich relatives and friends — similar to Kurt Meyer — that either one of them can ‘buy’ their way into the top vote-getting spot in the 4th’s primary, because neither one of them has the personal experience and long-time contacts in the 28 counties that Kevin Miskell has, let alone the legislative and policy background that he does. Let’s wait until some interviews and candidate forums/debates surface, and then you can better assess just who the voters of this district will respond to. Being a woman won’t be ‘enough’, and being ‘rich’ won’t be ‘enough’, either.
Keep your eyes on Miskell — Joe Trippi is his senior advisor, and is not only organizing a major fundraiser for Kevin in D.C. in May, but once he wins the primary, will be managing the whole campaign. And after all, his specialty is political advertising, so there will definately be Miskell media buys that will get noticed. The race is just getting rolling, so be careful not to decide the outcome based on so very little real evidence of ‘electibility’.
6. Spencer | April 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Latest polls have Meyers at 72% and he has been noted as the strongest candidate by other news sources. This shows money cannot buy a primary. Grassroots grassroots netroots.
7. Iowa Progress » Tom&hellip | April 26th, 2008 at 6:09 am
[…] from the mainstream than King, it’s not a surprise. One hopes that despite a slow start to fundraising that the eventual nominee for the 4th District is able to defeat an extremist like Tom […]
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