Democratic frontrunner and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who joined the gubernatorial race in November 2009, now faces the challenge of catching up with his Republican competitors who have been formally in the race for a year.
As of the last filed finance report in January, which accounts for all money going directly in and out of the campaign from July 2009 through the end of the year, Barrett has about $1.6 million at his disposal. This puts him ahead of former Congressman Mark Neumann and just behind Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who has about $2 million on hand.
Between July 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009, Barrett received over $800,000 in campaign contributions, with the vast majority of those coming in the last six weeks of the year following his official bid.
Barrett campaign spokesperson Phil Walzak said raising over $750,000 in six weeks is ""astonishing.""
""I think it spoke to how excited people were that he was getting in the race,"" he said.
Most of Barrett's largest donations came from Milwaukee-based lawyers and labor union-affiliated political action committees, a fact that Mike McCabe, executive director of the nonpartisan watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said he finds hardly surprising.
McCabe said trial lawyers and labor unions are two of Democrats' core constituencies and ""if Barrett's campaign is going to be remotely successful, he has to expand that fundraising base outside of those traditional Democratic constituencies, and he has to expand it statewide.""
Expansion is precisely the goal for the Barrett campaign, according to Walzak. He said since the report was filed three months ago, Barrett has been working to connect to the rest of Wisconsin and campaign in parts of the state generally thought to be ""red country.""
""Tom is someone who wants to run a campaign that is not just speaking to a [Democratic] base,"" Walzak said. ""I think that involves the fundraising component and drawing support from independent and middle-of-the-road moderates.""
Walzak said in the next filing report, which will come out in July, ""there will be a much more diverse and broad-base representation of support. I think you will see a lot of small donors from different walks of life, I think you are going to see a lot of business support on there and I think that you are going to see a lot of geographic diversity.""
Although Walker is still ahead in terms of funds, McCabe said because of Walker's high spending, Barrett may have more cash on hand by the summer.
""[Walker's] spending a lot more money earlier than Barrett. He's spending on TV advertising, because he's got a primary opponent in Mark Neumann, and so I think by the time that the reports are filed in July you might actually see Barrett sitting on more cash,"" he said.
In the second half of 2009, Barrett spent about $70,000, compared to over $900,000 for Walker.
Barrett could also potentially benefit from contributions from one of the state's biggest wild-card interests, Native American tribes, particularly the Forest County Potawatomi Community based in the Milwaukee area.
According to The Lakeland Times, the FCPC supported Gov. Jim Doyle in 2006 by funding advertisements and contributing $200,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
McCabe said Native American tribes are ""one of those interests that's the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. If they jump into the race, they could bring millions.""
The FCPC has made no announcements about any support for Barrett, but Lori Cleereman, assistant to the chair of FCPC, said, ""We'll be keeping our options open.""
McCabe said campaign finance ""is a really important factor"" as the race heats up.
""Who has the money usually wins,"" he said. ""It's probably the single best indicator of electoral success, and I think that is a very sad commentary on the state of our democracy,"" he said.
