Brown nearly out of money in Senate primary (RI)

[MaineDem]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Secretary of State Matt Brown is nearly out of money in his race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Lincoln Chafee.

Brown has just $35,000 cash on hand for the September primary, his campaign said Tuesday as it released details about his fundraising in the first three months of the year. His opponent, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, the party favorite, has $1.3 million for the primary, the Whitehouse campaign said.

Brown's campaign, which has made clean government a key issue, was accused of orchestrating an illegal fundraising scheme in which donors would funnel money to Brown through state Democratic parties in Maine, Hawaii and Massachusetts as a way to skirt federal limits on donations. The Republican parties in Rhode Island and Hawaii filed a complaint last month with the Federal Elections Commission asking for an investigation.

Brown has about $173,000 in debt, including a more than $91,000 loan he made to his campaign in the first quarter, said his spokesman, Matt Burgess. He said he could not immediately provide details on the remaining $82,000 in debt. "I think Matt Brown is almost to the point that he's going to be holding bake sales," said Darrell West, a professor of political science at Brown University.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/04/11/brown_nearly_out_of_money_in_senate_primary/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Maine+news

[katinmn]

1. I hope that means people are sending their money to Carl Sheeler!

www.carlsheeler.com

[snowbear]

2. Are there any new poll numbers out in that race?

If anyone knows, for sharing them!

[katinmn]

3. The 1st poll was meaningless. It only asked for preference for

Matt Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse.

http://www.carlsheeler.com/Bob_Kerr_article.asp

[Ignacio Upton]

4. This means Whitehouse will be the nominee

Unless Brown can get his financial act together. BTW, if a Senate candidate is pimping their website on DU, no offense, but I don't think that he is a viable candidate (which is different from taking out money for an advertisement and being included in a hypothetical matchup against Chafee or Laffey in polls.) Now, while some high-level Democrats have posted here before (I think that Elizabeth Edwards) they were already in positions of power and noteriety.

[katinmn]

5. Your criteria for viable?

just curious

[NativeTexan]

6. Sheeler rocks, and...

...maybe the money is going to HIM.