Little Competition for Dollars With Terry

Congressman Lee Terry continued his strong fundraising efforts over the last quarter.   He raised $236,249.   His Republican opponents raised only $28,530 which means that Terry out raised their total for the quarter by something like 1175%.    Lindstrom raised a paltry $13,360 during the quarter and the octogenarian Jack Heidel a mere $15,170.  

Terry's potential Democrat challengers did slightly better with John Ewing raising $32,616 for the quarter a rather embarrassing amount given that his challenger for the nomination, Gwen Howard raised a quarterly total of $37,755 (including a $10,100 loan by herself).   One can only conclude, however, that there must be a 'racist' element here given Ewing's pathetic results.  Maybe he should get Councilman Ben Gray to issue a press release.    Better yet, Ewing, who has loaned his campaign only $5,000 might want to consider tapping his $100,000  yearly pension or his $100,000 annual county salary for another loan.    Better yet, maybe he ought to take out a mortgage on that $900,000 home he owns in west Omaha to help finance his campaign.

For the election cycle, Terry once again has dwarfed his primary and potential opponents.   He has raised $791,575 for the cycle.   His closest competitor was Ewing who raised only $107,620 for the period.   The others' cycle fund raising efforts were pretty pathetic: Howard, $37,.755; Lindstrom, $31,719, and; Heidel, $34,858.  The difference between Lindstrom and Heidel's efforts dissolves in Lindstrom's favor when one takes note of the fact that Heidel has lent his own campaign $31,138.

The 'cash on hand' numbers are also pretty revealing.   Terry ended the quarter with $435,959 on hand.   His Republican primary opponents ended the quarter with a total of $21,542 on hand ($13,264 for Lindstrom, $8,728 for Heidel).   The total Democrat cash on hand was a meager $79,233 (Howard, $34,458; Ewing, $44,745).

Just to put things into perspective, at this point in 2010, Tom White, who ultimately got his butt kicked by Terry, had raised $383,771 for the cycle and had $343,142 on hand.  Those numbers make Howard and Ewing's campaigns pretty much a joke.

What's clear from all of this is that Terry is the choice of the Republican donors and constituents.   Neither Heidel nor Lindstrom have generated enough donations or excitement to compete.   And given the pathetic efforts of his potential Democrat opponents Howard and Ewing, there will at best be a futile Democrat effort to unseat Terry next fall.