Adam Hasner Proudly Raises Less Than Republican Rivals

Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, now in a crowded Republican primary field to see who takes on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, announced on Thursday that his campaign brought in $560,000 for the second quarter, and proudly boasted that was less than two of his rivals -- former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and Senate President Mike Haridopolos.

"We always expected the two establishment opponents to start off raising more money than us, because that's what the establishment does," said Hasner in a statement. "But we'll ultimately win this race because of our positive conservative principles and a growing grass-roots movement that's looking for leaders who'll stand up to Democrats and Republicans who act like them. Thanks to a growing and energized grass-roots base, today is a great start for our campaign and a promising foundation for the long haul."

While LeMieux has yet to reveal his intake from the quarter, the Haridopolos camp noted that their candidate brought in $900,000 after raising $2.6 million in the first quarter. The Haridopolos team maintains that they raised less since their candidate was focused on presiding over the Senate during the legislative session. The Hasner camp insists they have kept their powder dry -- with $470,000 still in the bank.

The Hasner camp slammed their rivals on Thursday.

"Obviously, we're not going to outraise our opponents right out of the gate," said Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist working with Hasner."One of them is running the Charlie Crist special-interest, establishment campaign plan. And the other one wrote it. Our approach is fundamentally different: We're going to win this race, not by making deals with Tallahassee insiders or compromising our principles with the Washington establishment, but holding firm on principle and keeping the faith with conservative grass-roots donors. We're also building a campaign that can go toe-to-toe with Bill Nelson next fall."