Cornyn says he has $9M in bank for re-election campaign

Dallas Morning News
April 15, 2008

 

AUSTIN - Freshman Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has nearly $9 million in the bank, a big edge as he tries to fend off Democrat Rick Noriega this fall.

Mr. Cornyn's latest campaign finance report, released today, shows he has raised $1.6 million since Feb. 14, the cutoff for federal candidates before the March 4 primary. His cumulative total for the first three months of the year was $2.15 million.

Mr. Noriega raised nearly $479,000 for the quarter, his campaign announced. The five-term state representative from Houston emphasized that since Feb. 14 he took in more than $367,000 - three times the $111,340 he received between Jan. 1 and Feb. 14.

"Triples fundraising after primary victory," a Noriega news release headline said.

A Cornyn headline, though, stressed the GOP incumbent's most crucial advantage.

"Successful first quarter brings cash on hand to $8.7 million for November election," it said.

Mr. Cornyn had 7,121 individual contributors in the first three months of the year. Eighty seven percent were from Texas, said Rob Jesmer, manager of his re-election campaign.

"Such fundraising shows Texans strongly appreciate Sen. Cornyn's leadership and are responding to his hopeful, optimistic vision for the future of Texas and America," Mr. Jesmer said.

The Noriega camp, which said it had just under $330,000 in cash as of March 31, said it knows mounting a competitive statewide race in Texas will take big sums.

"This race will be expensive," said campaign manager Mark Bell, a onetime aide to former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney. "Rick has a unique perspective on the issues facing Texans today. We're going to make sure we have the resources to get his message out."

Mr. Noriega said he's had promising results at online fundraising. He noted he's hired a Texas money raiser, Jennifer Treat, and an Internet fundraising firm, Blackrock Associates, that helped Democratic U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia beat a favored Republican in 2006.

"Since our primary victory, we have seen increasing support for our general election bid and have put in to place the fundraising team needed win in November," Mr. Noriega said.

For this election cycle, though, Mr. Cornyn has now raised about $13.5 million while Mr. Noriega has yet to break the $1.5 million mark.