Florida Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher has to help GOP legislative candidates get elected, including himself, as he battles a well-known Democrat following an unexpected primary fight.
And at the moment, at least, his Democratic opponent, has a lot more dry powder.
Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, has spent all but about $15,000 of a campaign account that has taken in $426,000 in his bid to return to the Florida Senate.
Thrashers opponent, Democrat Deborah Gianoulis, is sitting on about $216,000 after out-raising him by more than a 9-1 margin in the three weeks ending Sept. 10, the latest required reporting period.
I feel very encouraged by the momentum of our campaign, Gianoulis told the News Service. Ive been really pleased with the response and we havent even been on TV yet.
Thrashers campaign says not to make too much from a few weeks. He raised nearly twice that of Gianoulis during the previous campaign period and also has to spend much of his time raising money for other candidates, said his campaign spokeswoman Sarah Bascom.
First and foremost hes a sitting senator, Bascom said. He cant spend all of his time fundraising.
Also, the period included the four days leading up to the primary on Aug. 24 and Thrasher wasnt out raising money because he was campaigning heavily in the homestretch of a primary against another well-funded candidate, Republican Atantic Beach dermatologist Charles Perniciaro. Thrasher won easily but couldnt ignore Perniciaro, who used his own money and was one of the best-funded challengers of the primary.
Like any other Republican candidate, Thrasher could get some financial assistance from the RPOF, but Thrasher may be hampered by his own political clout and current circumstances.
In a party trying to distance itself from the spending practices of its prevous leadership - including about $400,000 in spending that auditors recently said was questionable,
Thrasher may be wary of dipping too deeply into party coffers for his own campaign. Bascom said hes not relying on his position within the party to replace his responsibilities as a candidate to raise money.
Is (Thrasher) going to use the party as his personal trust fund? Absolutely not, Bascom said. Thats why he was brought in to begin with. To fix that
Gianoulis was the leader in fundraising by far among all Senate candidates during the three week period ending Sept. 10. A former television anchor in the Jacksonville area, Gianoulis also is thought to already have strong name recognition in District 8, which stretches along the northeast Florida coast.
Heading into the final six weeks of the election, candidates are having to report campaign finances more frequently, with this past Friday the most recent reporting deadline.
In the race for governor, candidates on Sept. 10 reported just six days of money raising, during which Democrat Alex Sink outraised Republican Rick Scott. Sink raised $288,700 in cash and in-kind contributions for the period covering Sept. 4 to Sept. 10. She has more than $9 million on hand.
Scott, whose campaign spent more than $60 million already because of a tough primary with Attorney General Bill McCollum, had only $506,311 in his campaign account as of Sept. 10.
Scotts electioneering group, Lets Get to Work, has raised and spent more than $12 million and had $69,000 on hand as of Sept. 10.
