AP - Kilroy raises LESS THAN HALF of what Stivers raised in the 2nd Quarter

Date:

Friday, July 16, 2010

GOP outraises Dems in 2 key Ohio runs for Congress

By Doug Whiteman
Associated Press

POSTED: 02:56 p.m. EDT, Jul 16, 2010

COLUMBUS: In two Ohio congressional races that are repeats, Republicans are raising more money than the Democrats who beat them in 2008, adding to national GOP hopes to retake seats in Congress this fall.

Finance reports filed with federal regulators by this week's deadline showed Democratic southwest Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus pulled in $230,321 from supporters during the quarter that ended June 30, behind the $306,312 raised by Republican Steve Chabot. Chabot also was the leader in cash on hand, with $1,007,150 at the end of the period compared to $973,266 for Driehaus.

In 2008, Driehaus unseated Chabot, who had served a Republican-leaning Cincinnati district for seven terms.

In Ohio's other congressional rematch, Democratic incumbent Mary Jo Kilroy raised $229,956 during the April-June quarter. That was less than half the $532,687 collected by Republican challenger Steve Stivers, and he also had more money in the bank: $1,242,961, versus Kilroy's $933,626.

Kilroy was sworn in to what had been an open central Ohio seat following a 2008 race with Stivers that was so close they both attended freshman orientation in Congress during the re-count.

Republicans hungry to recover lost ground in Ohio pounced on the Kilroy fundraising numbers in particular. The National Republican Congressional Committee on Friday sent out an e-mail describing her financial showing as "lackluster" and saying her "re-election hopes continue to fade."

The Kilroy camp did not see cause for concern and was confident the Democrat would catch up in fundraising, campaign manager Josh Levin said Friday.

A political analyst cautioned against reading too much into the money standings.

"Any one campaign finance report might just be an anomaly," said Buchler, a professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "Strange things happen every once in a while. Somebody's able to raise more or less money than they're expected to raise."

At the same time, the Republicans' bigger numbers in the two closely watched Ohio races are in line with trends suggesting voters will blame Democrats for the economy and unemployment, and the GOP will gain this year, Buchler said.

"Nobody wants to contribute to the loser, everybody wants to give money to the winner," he said.