TN Frosh raise some $$$

Right At Home blog dug into the 2nd Quarter fundraising numbers for Tennessee’s freshman Republican Members of Congress yesterday:

The [OpenSecrets.org] article goes on to list the top 10 and bottom 10 fundraisers in the second quarter, and none of the four freshmen from Tennessee made either list.

Just how did they fare?

Diane Black (TN06) and Stephen Fincher (TN08) both exceeded the average in Q2, with $297,929 (#22) and $271,728 (#28), respectively. Chuck Fleischmann (TN03) and Scott Desjarlais (TN04) fell considerably further down the list, with Fleischmann coming in at #60 with $147,041 and Desjarlais hitting #63 with $141,585.

For the first and second quarters combined, the four rank a little higher compared to their colleagues, but stack up similarly against each other:

#16      Diane Black (TN06)                    $556,561

#21      Stephen Fincher (TN08)          $521,874

#55      Scott Desjarlais (TN04)            $277,875

#56      Chuck Fleischmann (TN03)   $274,540

A major reason for Black’s being at the top of the TN heap appears to be her PAC fundraising – measuring PAC contributions as a percentage of her total fundraising, she really stands out from the rest of the TN heap. She has a significantly higher percent of PAC contributions that the rest of the Tennessee freshmen:

Black – 60%

Fleischmann – 38%

Fincher – 37%

Desjarlais – 35%

It’s interesting to see that Fincher has raised nearly as much as Black (93% of her year to date total), but is almost exactly the mirror image of her PAC to Individual contribution ratio. Is that a difference that matters to voters?

RAH poses the question, does it matter where the money comes from? Writing anecdotally, I think this really only matters to opponents. I haven’t ever seen a time when people really got fired up about fundraising data, except around reporting periods or if someone took money from some shady character like Hassan Nemazee.

As a numbers guy myself, I’ve dug into the state-level reports for the 2nd Quarter. Not much there at the moment because they only recently adjourned.

Clarksville Democrat State Senator Tim Barnes looks kind of weak with only about $6,000 on hand. State Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Sargent has nearly $77,000 on hand. Rutherford County State Representative Joe Carr has about $6,000 in the bank.

I’ll dig more into these numbers in a few days.

By the way, if you’re a Republican and you want help fundraising, drop me a line.