Fundraising update

Being that the PDC finally updated their site, I can now compare and contrast fundraising and expenditure numbers for some upcoming primaries in a couple weeks. Aside from the following primary matchups, Ron Sims still has a huge cash on hand advantage over David Irons in the race for King County Executive, but if there's some silver lining for the Irons campaign, he topped Sims in fundraising once again. However, when your opponent still has seven times as much on hand as you do, you're still in a poor position.

King County Council, Dist. 1: Carolyn Edmonds (see 8/30) edged Bob Ferguson by approximately $2,000 in fundraising over the past two months, and both have about $58,000 on hand after taking into account a campaign debt of Ferguson's. The steady downhill slide Edmonds has taken is not being helped by these recent fundraising problems. With her level of party support she should be able to run well ahead of Ferguson, and in that situation she might not necessarily be DOA on September 20.

King County Council, Dist. 9: On an unsurprising note, appointed Councilman Reagan Dunn is walking all over appointed-and-specially-elected Councilman Steve Hammond in fundraising. The conservative Hammond raised less than $10,000 since July 1 and has just shy of $3,000 on hand. In contrast, the socially-moderate and semi-libertarian Dunn took in almost $60,000 during the same time period and has over $45,000 currently on hand. Hammond will have the unfortunate task of beating money, ideology, and name recognition and it isn't looking good for him.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 2: Incumbent Richard Conlin leads all opponents with about $40,000 raised in the most recent time period, topping $22,000 for Paige Miller and $11,000 for Darlene Madenwald. Miller leads in cash on hand with about $92,000, but has campaign debt, as does Conlin.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 4: A neck-and-neck race in recent fundraising and cash on hand for the fourth position between incumbent Jan Drago and challenger Casey Corr. Corr edged Drago by less than $10,000 in funds raised since July 1, and leads Drago $125,000 to $110,000 in cash on hand, though both have growing campaign debts on top of that.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 8: There are a lot of mixed signals in the num bers for the eighth position. Businessman Robert Rosencrantz ran neck-and-neck with incumbent Richard McIver in taking in $44,000, easily ahead of King County Councilman Dwight Pelz's $18,000. However, Pelz has the most on hand with $102,000 to McIver's $99,000 and Rosencrantz's $19,000. Apparently, Rosencrantz is dumping much of his campaign wallet into making the general (good idea, given his underdog status) and Pelz is assuming he's already beaten Rosencrantz and is saving money to take down McIver in November.