I just got off the phone with Deeds for Governor campaign manager Joe Abbey. Needless to say, he's a happy camper right now. Why? Check this out, just in from the Deeds campaign.I am excited to announce that I was able to raise more money in 44 days than the previous 6 months -- and now my campaign has $1.2 million cash-on-hand.
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Some people said that it was foolish of me to give up 46 days of campaign fundraising in order to stay and fight for you in the Virginia Senate. They said that I had no shot of keeping up with my opponents.
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My opponents had twice as much time to fundraise. Brian Moran even resigned his seat so he could raise money full-time for his campaign, but it didn't pay off. I now have 41 percent more cash on-hand than Brian.
Impressive; $1.2 million cash on hand for Creigh vs. just $825,000 for Brian. I asked Joe Abbey for comment, and this is what he had to say (on the record):
*"The session actually helped us, we had to be highly disciplined on the money side."
*"Luke McFarland and the finance team used the time wisely and kicked [rhymes with grass]." :)
*"Creigh was "insanely disciplined" fundraising, with a "laser-like focus on the phone."
*"We had half as much time as Brian to raise money, but we still ended up with 41% more cash on hand than he has."
*"Creigh didn't walk away from his responsibilities and we still MORE than competed with Brian."
*"We raised $5,000 per day more than Brian on days that Creigh could actually fundraise."
In sum, at the end of the first quarter of 2009, the three Democratic candidates for governor have the following cash on hand.
Terry McAuliffe: $2.5 million after just 4 months of campaigning
Creigh Deeds: $1.2 million despite being in General Assembly session much of the quarter
Brian Moran: An anemic $825,000, despite having quit his job back in December in order to be a full-time fundraiser and candidate (and despite rumors that Jim Moran transferred large sums of money to his brother). Very, very strange; can't wait for the spin about how money doesn't matter. Yeah, right, tell that to the Republicans!
