Ryan Teague Beckwith, Staff Writer
Who's ahead in Senate fundraising?
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Democratic rival Kay Hagan have released the results of their second-quarter fundraising, although actual campaign finance reports are not yet available.
Here's a breakdown of the numbers.
FUNDRAISING: Since April 17, Dole raised $1.69 million, while Hagan raised $1.54 million. Though Dole is ahead by $150,000, Hagan's folks are claiming they have "closed the fundraising gap." A key test will be whether Hagan can sustain that.
CASH ON HAND: Dole says she had $2.7 million in cash on hand at the end of the quarter, while Hagan says she has $1.2 million. Dole has 2 1/4 times as much money to spend on the general election, a clear advantage no matter how you slice it.
SPENDING: Dole had $3.16 million at the end of the first quarter, raised $1.69 million, and ended with $2.7 million. That means she spent more than $2 million. Hagan had $317,000, raised $1.54 million, and ended with $1.2 million. That means she spent $657,000.
That other state raceAnd what about the race for money in the governor's race?
Democrat Beverly Perdue says she raised $2.3 million during the second quarter, while Republican Pat McCrory says he brought in more than $1 million in the same period.
In a news release, Perdue's campaign said it now has $1.4 million cash on hand, while McCrory reported having more than $700,000 in cash.
The McCrory campaign noted that its second quarter total was $600,000.
That's more than Republican nominee Patrick Ballantine raised in his 2004 bid and nearly $190,000 more than Republican Richard Vinroot raised in his 2000 campaign.
Meanwhile, the Perdue campaign said it had received money from 3,002 individual donors, including 1,500 first-time donors who gave a total of more than $830,000.
Disclosures win praiseA campaign finance watchdog group has praised 21 legislators for their openness.
Democracy North Carolina identified state lawmakers who are doing "a superior job" identifying occupations and employers of their donors on campaign finance forms.
Though candidates are required to make their best effort to identify all donors, many fall short, listing only names, dates and amounts.
The group singled out legislators who raised more than $15,000 and provided full information on 98 percent or more of donors, including Senate President Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney, both Democrats.
Also praised, from the House, were: Democrats Tricia Cotham, Jim Crawford, Margaret Dickson, Rick Glazier, Bruce Goforth, Deborah Ross, Russell Tucker, Jennifer Weiss and Verla Insko, and Republican David Lewis.
And from the Senate: Democrats Charlie Albertson, Doug Berger, Linda Garrou, Clark Jenkins and A.B. Swindell, and Republicans Pete Brunstetter, Neal Hunt, Richard Stevens and Jerry Tillman.
Open to interpretationSomeone at the N.C. Secretary of State's office may be a fan of David Chase. A fake lobbyist created by the department apparently to test its software was given the last name of a popular HBO series. "Lobbyist A Soprano A," listed on the department's Web site, was given an imaginary address at 1234 Utopia Lane in Raleigh.
It's not clear whether the fake name is a tribute to "The Sopranos" or, say, singer Kiri Te Kanawa, but lobbyists would probably prefer the latter.
The phone number is real, though. It belongs to a staffer at the Secretary of State.