Cagle carries huge financial advantage
Polls suggest Martin still in it with 10-point deficit
Sometimes campaign press releases have the mark of wishful thinking. Take one last week from Democrat Jim Martin, who may be within shooting range of Republican Casey Cagle in this year’s lieutenant governor’s race.
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The release argued that Martin is running “neck and neck in fund-raising” with Cagle. In fact, Cagle reported raising $1.2 million, nearly twice as much as Martin did since the two were nominated by their respective parties. Martin’s campaign noted that the Democrat actually raised another $410,000 in a runoff, which was reported separately, while Cagle was raising money for the general election. The two numbers combined bring Martin’s fund-raising since June 30 within $200,000 of Cagle’s.
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But the bottom line is that the Republican had $914,000 in the bank to spend in the closing month of the campaign vs. Martin’s $177,000.
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The discrepancy underscores a huge financial advantage for Republicans in Georgia. The GOP typically finds it easier to raise money because the party is cozier with moneyed interests, but the state’s Democrats were competitive as long as they held the governor’s office and controlled the Legislature.
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Now, Republicans are moving uptown and leaving Georgia Democrats in the poorhouse. As of Sept. 30, the state GOP had $5 million in the bank (vs. $519,000 for Democrats), while Gov. Sonny Perdue had $6.5 million to spend on all those “Sonny Do” ads. Mark Taylor, Perdue’s challenger, had $1.2 million.
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At least Martin’s doing better than Taylor. While the Big Guy’s languishing some 20 percentage points behind Perdue, polls show Martin around 10 points in back of Cagle. Cagle has benefitted from major fund-raisers, which included a visit earlier this month by U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. But Martin could get good news this week in the fund-raising department. Mayor Shirley Franklin and a full slate of Atlanta political leaders were throwing a benefit for the former state rep from Midtown as CL went to press Tuesday. And Martin spokesman Will Martin notes that, before the fund-raising disclosure was filed, the campaign had already spent more than $400,000 on TV ads scheduled to run starting Oct. 24.
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It’s unclear whether that’s enough for Martin to dent Cagle’s lead. “In statewide races in Georgia where television dominates the media,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said, “a candidate needs at least $2 million to run an effective advertising campaign.”