Darcy Burner Beats Reichert in Q2 Fundraising

The 2nd Quarter fundraising numbers are in at the FEC and the numbers are stunning:

WA-08 Fundraising ending June 30, 2006. Source: Federal Election Commission

The above table puts the numbers from the Darcy Burner campaign side-by-side with those from the Dave Reichert campaign. In the three month period ending June 30, despite the fact George Bush came to town himself to fund-raise for Dave Reichert at a private $1,000 a person event in Medina, despite the fact that incumbents usually have a fundraising edge, despite the fact Dave Reichert is a considerably better known name than his opponent, Darcy Burner still out-raised him by over $20,000: $590,561 to $569,077.

In the first quarter Darcy Burner also out-raised Reichert $334,181 to $268,359.

Simple math shows that for the year Burner has raised Reichert $924,742 to $837,436.

Back in April, the Republicans scoffed at Darcy Burner's fundraising numbers.

State Republican Party chairman Diane Tebelius dismissed Burner's fund-raising, especially since the Democrats cleared the field for her.

"That's her early money. We'll see what happens after the early money comes in," Tebelius said.

Well, now that we've seen what happened, it will be interesting to see how they try to paint the situation this time.

The vast majority of Darcy Burner's contributions have come from small donations by individuals. For the quarter she received more than twice the amount Reichert did in individual contributions.

When Bush came to town last month I felt that Reichert was going to have to use the money raised to counter the negative association of being seen with Bush. The net result would be a negative.

Given the fact that even with the dollars he brought in from that event Reichert still trails Burner in fundraising, it looks increasingly as if that's the case.

Reichert has not been successful at disassociating himself from Bush, and his voting record shows him to be yet another rubber stamp for Bush's policies. He is having to spend more than Darcy Burner, almost three times as much, even with the $500,000+ he has spent on his franking campaign, and his efforts have clearly not been effective.

During the next four months everyone will be watching where traditional Republican donors decide to put their money. Many may choose to stick their money back in their own pockets, rather than donate to a losing campaign. That would be just as significant as the numbers that do get recorded in these campaign disclosures.

Meanwhile, as Darcy Burner continues to turn heads within the Democratic Party, expect more large donors and endorsements as people increasingly become confident that they are backing a winning candidate.

Darcy Burner's campaign has come a long way, and the future looks very promising indeed.