Rand Paul’s ‘money bombs’ losing some blast
Democrat Jack Conway, left, and Republican Rand Paul are running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky.
By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Rand Paul’s Internet “money bombs” to raise funds for his Republican U.S. Senate campaign have lost some of their blast but still are detonating big bucks.
Political observers say Paul’s online fund-raising efforts remain productive but predict the race between Paul and Democratic nominee Jack Conway will not hinge on money.
Paul’s latest money bomb raised about $258,000 last Thursday and Friday, but fell well short of a $400,000 goal. Paul’s biggest haul from a money bomb occurred last August when he raised more than $436,000 in less than 24 hours. The goal was $1 million.
In late June, Paul’s campaign took in $172,000 in two days from a money bomb with a goal of $100,000. In late March, a bomb generated $262,000 in one day.
Despite the dwindling numbers, the coffers of both candidates will likely contain plenty of money, said Danny Briscoe, a Democratic political consultant from Louisville who is not involved in the race.
Briscoe said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will see to it that Paul is adequately funded and Democrats in Washington will make sure Conway has necessary funds.
He predicted that $10 million will be spent on the general election race. In 2008, McConnell and Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford spent a combined $32 million on the primary and general elections.
“I’d expect Conway to finish up with spending the most but it, no doubt, will be a competitive race,” Briscoe said.
Instead of money, the major factors in the race will remain President Barack Obama’s unpopularity in the state and Conway’s “ability to define Paul as outside the mainstream,” said Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report.
Rothenberg rates the race as “toss up — tilts Republican.”
On the money front, McConnell and national Democrats already are moving to support their candidates.
McConnell has co-hosted fund-raisers for Paul and sent an e-mail to supporters last week urging them to donate during the money bomb.
“The national media and their liberal allies have thrown everything they have at Dr. Rand Paul,” McConnell said. “But the good news is, he’s taking their best shot, and still is in the lead as we hit the home stretch.”
Meanwhile, Conway is expected to benefit from $1.3 million that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will contribute for a statewide ad campaign, NationalJournal.com reported last week.
The publication said Democrats privately acknowledge that Conway is one of the party’s best chances to pick up a Senate seat.
The Paul campaign put a positive spin on the latest money bomb’s take.
“Dr. Paul has made a great success of tapping into a large base of donors over the past year, and this is just another example of the campaign’s fund-raising proficiency and wide base of support,” the campaign said in a statement.
Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon, effectively used the fund-raising gimmick to win the Republican nomination last May. He borrowed the strategy from his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who popularized money bombs in his unsuccessful bid for president in 2008.
Briscoe said Paul’s bombs are “efficient ways to raise money.”
A candidate normally needs three or four fund-raisers to get the kind of money one of his bombs generates, Briscoe said.
Republican Larry Forgy, who lost a bid for governor in 1995 to Democrat Paul Patton, called Paul’s money bombs “bonus money.”
Forgy said he saw Paul raise $22,000 last week at a private fund-raiser in Somerset, “and I didn’t see a lobbyist with corporate money in sight.”
Forgy said Paul is raising money from “ordinary folks.”
Don’t worry about Paul as a fund-raiser, said Forgy. “He’ll be competitive, no doubt about that.”
At the end of June, Paul reported $319,000 on hand compared to $703,000 for Conway. For the entire election cycle, Paul has raised $3,547,054, compared to $3,710,345 for Conway, who has put at least $500,000 of his own money in the race,
Filed Under: Elections • Jack Conway • Rand Paul • US Senate Race
About the Author: John Stamper is the accountability editor for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Monticello, Ky., he has been with the Herald-Leader in a variety of roles since graduating from Western Kentucky University in 2000. Reach him at jstamper@herald-leader.com
So this is his second largest “moneybomb” yet… how is that “losing some blast”?
Phew! Almost went a whole day without a negative Rand Paul article in the Lexington Hairless Liberal.
Meanwhile no stories on the other candidate who’s given his campaign an $800,000 loan and yet, he makes only $108,000 a year. hmmmm
Conway will win this race, he will start his campaign after the traditional Labor Day starting point. Paul has peaked, and doesn’t have the guts to fight this Senate race. By the way did Randy pray to Buddha while in Somerset? Did Randy explain his sexual perversion? Wait until the TV ads begin. That fellow is a nut.
The LHL is going out of business, and it is easy to see why. I have lived here 30 years, and they have always been biased towards the democrats. In 30 years, they have probably only endorsed 5-6 republicans out of several hundred demorcrats.
Their obsession with Rand Paul is quiet funny, but sad. Literally every day, they come up with some story, that they try and spin in a negative way.
“Paul didn’t get a degree from Baylor – oops because he was so smart, he got accepted into one of the most prestegious medical schools after only 3 years”.
“Paul only made $43k last year, we wonder why?”
“Paul moneybombs losing steam, he only collected $250k in 2 days” (wouldn’t we all like to lose steam like that)
This race is not a toss up. 7-9 point Paul win will be the final margin. Conway is totally ineffective and invisible.
The LHL just doesn’t get that many of the Rand Paul positions that they deam as “extreme”, actually are supported by the vast majority of republicans. Obama and the dems are the extreme ones.
Look Rand needs to hire Karl Rove and it wont matter about money or the votes. Rove knows how to make sure his client wins.
There is a link for donations to Conway at TheDailyKos
Con Man Rand has taken the election national.
i’m bored with this race. let’s get the debates going and skip the LHL
“Rand Paul’s ‘money bongs’ losing some blast”
There. That’s better.
OH NO is Forgy working for Paul– Now I have to reconsider my vote..
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LOVE the repeated use of the word “bombs”! More Republican death and destruction is just what we need in today’s world. I think Paul and all his fellow conservatives should help us decide our vote by telling us what countries we he thinks we should attack, invade, and occupy next time they get in power. We have lots of precious children to sacrifice.
Maybe if he would stay off this network, he could raise more money from his bombs.
Fox News co-owner funded ‘Ground Zero mosque’ imam: report:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0821/fox-shareholder-funded-mosque-imam
Oh, wait this is where the majority of his money is coming from, isn’t it?
Noticed no one wants to touch the fact Conway a civil servant making $108,000 a year has loaned his campaign $800,000. Not to mention Jack Conway still hasn’t released his financial disclosure report either.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Dixxiecrat, what sexual perversion are you speaking of? Oh, you mean Conway occasionally swinging the wrong way?
Is it November yet? I don’t need to see anymore ads or hear anymore Bull Sh**! Let’s just get on with it and rid our selves of the Democrats in office.
Well it appears that the supporters of Conway still cannot support their candidate with the views of that candidate. How about stating what Mr. Conway supports that you think is going to help this State and country. Does he support term limits?? How about a balanced budget??? Oh maybe he wants to cut spending. The U.S is presently spending more that it is taking in. How long before we declare bankruptcy?? Nasty comments about Mr. Paul fall on deaf ears. I would never vote for someone who’s supporters can only make up negatives about his or her opponent rather than espouse the positives of their candidate.
Barry,
It’s not $800 thousand, it’s $500 thousand. Have you ever heard of coming from a wealthy family or maybe earning it from a racehorse he and his father own together? Maybe you should ask all politicians where they get all their money to loan themselves. Let’s take John McCain for instance, he makes $175 thousand a year but he’s spent more than $20 million on his campaign, or maybe Micheal Bloomberg Mayor of NYC he spent $100 million on his campaign bet yet only takes $1 a year. Now that makes me wander, where does he get all that money? What about Mitch McConnell, he spent nearly $20 million on his last campaign. Where did he get all that money?
Tommy Caudill
You ignorant fool! The money came from a few malpractice cases his daddy gave him between 2002 and 2007. It is part of the reason our healthcare costs keep going up, while Obamacare did nothing to deal with tort reform. Oh by the way Tommy, Jack was for Bush’s tax cuts in 2002 just like he is now. Why? He is a rich Malpractice attorney who benefits from these policies. His horse has not made that much money. You obviously know nothing about the racing industry.
Guess Tommy forgot all the investments in natural gas which goes against Coal.
Yeah, there’s a reason he delayed releasing his financial report. Gotta scrub some numbers.
Alright malpractice, you tell me, how much money is too much for a father and a husband who died at the age of 40 on the operating table in Prestonsburg Ky. from bleeeding to death while having his yonsils taken out? How much money is too much for a 27 year old man with torn meniscus in his knee who was given the wrong medicine while his mother plainly told them he was allergic to the medicine they gave him? Is $2 million too much maybe $1 million is too much? How do you put a price on a life? Come on how much money would your father, mother, son, daughter, or spouse’s life be worth to you if some ignorant doctor let them bleed to death or gave them the wrong anesthesia? You said the right word, it is malpractice and yes the doctors who perform these horrid acts need to pay. As for the earnings of his horse Stately Victor he has earned the following, STATELY VICTOR (USA) b. C, 2007 DP = 3-2-11-0-0 (16) DI = 1.91 CD = 0.50 – 11 Starts, 2 Wins, 1 Places, 0 Shows Career Earnings: $510,853. Looks like he’s earned nearly as much as Conway loaned his campaign, right?
http://www.pedigreequery.com/stately+victor
Liberal media spinsters: you lie!
RAND PAUL’S MONEY BOMBS
August 20, 2009: $433,000
September 23, 2009: $186,000
December 16, 2009: $240,000
March 23, 2010: $262,000
April 19, 2010: $101,000
June 28, 2010: $135,000
August 20, 2010: $258,000
Oh yeah, the $258,000 this most recent one raised for Paul was a real dud. How much did Conway raise in online contributions that same day? Do you people in the media have no shame with such spin?
Malpractice,
Tort reform would save us 1.4% in our healthcare costs. Wow, that sure would save us so much on our healthcare.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/why-does-us-health-care-cost-so-much-part-i/
Oh yeah Malpractice I almost forgot you should never call anyone a “fool”.
A.(Matthew 5:22) – “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
Tommy Caudill,
The amount of money the victims of so-called malpractice (or their survivors) get is not the issue. The amount of money Jack Conway gets from those cases is the issue. There is a difference between how much the victims get in their settlements and the percentage ambulance chasers like Conway pull off the top. If these cases are/were so terrible, a bleeding heart like Conway should have taken them pro bono or for a mere pittance, like maybe 10 grand.
Washington Monthly: “Congressional Budget Office steps all over Boehner’s message” http://j.mp/co9JIJ
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Buck,
Tort reform would take money away from the victims. Why would you want to cut what a lawyer does for a living? Their client knows going into the case what they’re going to charge. They have the right to refuse their help if they so choose.
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expected to benefit from $1.3 million that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will contribute for a statewide ad campaign, NationalJournal.com reported last week