The latest fundraising numbers for federal candidates were released this week and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s total fueled expectations that he’ll be running against Senator Sherrod Brown in 2012.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, ended his successful campaign for Congress with a large nest egg in case he decides to run for U.S. Senate in 2012, according to his post-general election campaign finance report filed with the Federal Elections Commission.
Jordan is one of the people mentioned as a potential candidate for the seat held by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Jordan, in his House race, collected $835,501 during the election cycle as of Nov. 22 and spent $421,908.
Taking previous balances into account, the Jordan campaign’s cash on hand at the end of the reporting period totaled $846,501.
It’s important to note, with only cash in federal campaign accounts allowed to be transferred over to other federal campaign accounts, that’s $846,501 more than any other Republican has raised for a primary run against Jordan. So unless another Congressman wants to make a leap, Jordan already has one heckuva head start.
The big question is whether Lt. Gov-elect Mary Taylor will jump into the race and if she can raise the money necessary to run a competitive race against Jordan.
Whomever the nominee, they already have a good start against what seems to be a very vulnerable Sherrod Brown.
Brown’s approval rating was measured in the October 30th poll done by Democratic polling firm PPP. He comes in with just 31% approval overall and 23% among Independents. That’s not good. Most interesting, despite being far less well known than Obama and slightly less well known than Fisher, his disapproval rating among Democrats was comparable to both at a frighteningly high 18%. Obama was at 19% and Fisher at 20%. As 2010 taught us, and as 3BP preached all election season, that doesn’t lend itself well to turnout.
Additionally, Brown is an unabashed liberal that has made the kind of votes that will severely damage him if any of the same political trends from 2010 continue.
Yes, it’s early. Yes, plenty will change. But as today’s increase in the unemployment rate shows, that change may not always be a good thing.
BONUS VIDEO: Here’s Jordan doing a solid job on Fox News yesterday making the case for not raising taxes and maintaining the current tax rate…
