Not Exactly Great News

Today, political candidates in Georgia were required to disclose fundraising amounts. So far, it's not looking good for Georgia Democrats. Here are the total contribution results from today's filing for the more contentious constitutional offices:

Governor
Sonny Purdue (R) - $7,673,068.28
Mark Taylor (D) - $3,362,361.71
Cathy Cox (D) - $2,119,760.82

Lt. Governor
Greg Hecht (D) - $425,810.00
Casey Cagle (R) - $626,228.00
Jim Martin (D) - $230,119.76
John Oxendine (R) - $522,524.00

Secretary of State
Carol Jackson (D) - $29,055.00
Perry McGuire (R) - $114,983.59
Angela Moore (D) - $55,500.00
Bill Stephens (R) - $227,235.00

A couple of things strike me after having browsed through the Secretary of State's Financial Disclosure Reports page. Christian Coalition leader and Republican Lt. Governor candidate Ralph Reed's disclosure information is not listed there. Neither is Democratic Secretary of State candidate Shyam Reddy's information. Maybe they didn't file electronically? I really would like to know the answer.

While this is a bit worrisome, incumbents traditionally start off with significantly larger amounts of money than their challengers. It should also be noted that Gov. Purdue has no significant Republican challenger, so his donors would not be split like those of Cathy Cox and Mark Taylor. In regards to the Democratic candidates, it is of interest that Mark Taylor recently had strong endorsements from several of Georgia's labor unions (he had already received an endorsement from the Communication Workers of America, and according to this, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers contributed $5,000 to his campaign), and I believe that shows in his profiting over Cathy Cox.

In regards to the other constitutional offices, there have been mixed results for Democrats:

In other races, Republicans did well raising money even against incumbents. In the race for agriculture secretary, long-serving Democratic incumbent Tommy Irvin raised $118,781. That's just a hair over the total raised by Republican state Sen. Brian Kemp, who raised $117,025, and less than the sum raised by Republican farmer Gary Black of Commerce, who raised $121,670.
...
One of the few competitive down-ticket races where Democrats had an advantage for the first six months of 2005 was for insurance commissioner. In that race, Democrat Gaeton Drexinger raised $106,616. Incumbent Republican John Oxendine raised $27,250. But again, incumbency means Oxendine started the year with about $719,000.

Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, a Democrat, raised $46,695 for his re-election during the first six months of the year. So far he has no announced opposition for 2006.

As an aside, I think I should share the fact that I contributed $50 to Cathy Cox's campaign.