Tomorrow is the deadline to report campaign finances for 2013.
We will get an idea of how much momentum is behind the campaigns by seeing how much money has been raised. So where does Ed Fitzgerald need to be to have a chance against Governor Kasich?
When asked that same question before the last report, he set a reasonable bar. He said he needed to be roughly where Kasich was 4 years ago when he challenged Ted Strickland.
“Let’s put it this way, the governor at that point in his election cycle, a year and a half before the election in 2009, was at about $500,000,” said FitzGerald. “That, to me, ought to be roughly what the barometer is going to be.”
Of course, as we reported in July, Ed fell way short. He needed a last minute infusion of money from the Ohio Democratic Party. Kasich needed no such help from the state party in 2009.
There’s no reason not to keep using the Kasich/Strickland election as a bar for 2014. Both elections were about a challenge against an incumbent governor. So here’s where Kasich and Strickland raised in 2009.
Kasich 2009 Annual report:
Total contributions received: $4,551,086
Cash on hand: $4,068,827
Strickland 2009 Annual report:
Total contributions received: $2,628,539
Cash on hand: $6,174,193
If Ed Fitzgerald wants to keep par with Kasich, he needs to report $4.5 million raised tomorrow. Going further, he needs to outraise Kasich, like Kasich did four years ago.
Will he fall short again or will he post good results? We will see.
