Thursday, August 02, 2007

SLC mayoral money race

All in all, Ralph Becker looks to be in pretty good shape...but still has significant ground to cover if he wants to make that second slot in 6 weeks.
The most recent reports show the candidates have maintained their financial rankings in the past two months, with former Salt Lake City Councilman Keith Christensen still the top fund-raiser. He has raised a total of $556,996.
While he is the only candidate to have passed the half-million-dollar mark, he has slowed his fund raising more than any of the other four front-runners since June, bringing in only $47,497 in the past two months.
"The important thing is the total money raised and the amount of money left on hand," said Christensen...
[...]
"Our campaign is fairly balanced in what we do," Wilson said. "I understand the role that money plays in a mayor's race. I wish it were different — I'm actually a big proponent of campaign finance reform and will work to reform it in the city — but I understand the role it plays."
She said that after the first round of financial reporting in February, she was shocked into action by the emerging reality: This is going to be an expensive race.
"Keith's fund raising has really surprised me," she said. "I've been in politics a long time, and the amount he raised really did wake us up."
[...]
The money race is just one part of the highly competitive campaign. Recent polls show the candidates stacking up differently when it comes to voter support rather than dollars raised and spent.

The Deseret News only tells half of the money race story. I bolded Christensen's quote for a reason. Check out the Salt Lake Tribune's graphic:

As you can see, although Ralph is 4th place in the money raising race, he is second in the cash-on-hand race. This frugal spending bodes well for the final days of the race when those undecideds (a quarter of the electorate) will chose their candidate or soft supporters will shift.

But as my future boss Kirk Jowers notes, you can't horde cash for too long
"They can't wait now," he said. "They have to start spending. If they wait until the first week of September, it will probably be too late."

Nevertheless Ralph didn't waste his money on billboards, like Buhler and Christensen have. Instead, he has done more innovate means of flashing his sigange around town

2 comments:

loggins said...

Although I think that picture is an innovative way to advertise, I wouldn't say billboards are a waste of money. I think just by the mere fact that Keith has been able to raise so much money, people should be asking themselves, "who is this guy?" I did and it was well worth my time. www.keithformayor.com

Unknown said...

Re the trib graphic: I think I will write to them to be a little more fair in describing the supporters of Ralph's candidacy.
He was recently endorsed by the Veteran's Caucus of the State Democratic Party, and the majority of the Democratic Legislators in the Utah Senate. We at Democracy for Utah have endorsed him, as have some current officers in the State Democratic Party.
Just wanting to be fair. As long as Enid Greene and Christian Burrdige were mentioned.