The Money Chase, March Update: Attorney General

Here's the latest look at the money chase for the Attorney General race.

Last month, Greg Macpherson led John Kroger by $185k. This month, his lead has bumped up slightly to $193k - despite shutting down fundraising for the three-week legislative session (in part because last month's data was complete only through the 19th of the month.)

Last month, Macpherson's daily pace (over 90 days) was $1895/day, while Kroger's was $1416/day. This month, Macpherson's daily pace is stable at $1832/day, and Kroger's is up to $1999/day.

Here's the box scores and the charts:

	Kroger	Macpherson
last updated	2-28-2008	2-26-2008
2007 starting balance	$0	$125,501
current total	$274,092	$467,967
cash contributions	364	715
average contribution	$708	$447
daily pace (last 90)	$1,999	$1,832
daily pace (last 30)	$2,749	$1,625

Technical notes on the jump...

We retrieved this data from ORESTAR on March 1, 2008. Because campaigns can choose to delay their reporting up to 30 days, some recent data isn't available yet. The "daily pace" is based on the last 30 or 90 days for which we do have data. Our chart starts in July 2007 because most campaigns didn't raise money during the legislative session. The "average contribution" is based on actual cash contributions since January 1, 2007 - while the "current total" includes in-kind contributions, sold items, interest income, and the starting balance. Also, some campaigns lump together under-$100 contributions into a single line item - so the number of contributions may be slightly understated and the average contribution slightly overstated. In order to measure campaign strength, these numbers include the initial cash-on-hand on January 1, 2007 plus all funds raised since then.

Why not look at cash-on-hand? Because it doesn't lend itself to an apples-to-apples view. The goal is to provide a snapshot view that compares the financial strength of the statewide campaigns and legislative caucuses. Does a low cash-on-hand mean that a campaign is failing to raise money? Or does it mean that they're spending money on big-ticket items like polling, direct mail, and television? We assume that campaigns spend money in whatever way they think is most strategically smart. So, looking at the total funds raised since January 1, 2007 (plus the opening balance that day) is the best snapshot of overall financial strength.

And yes, we'll include Republican candidates - if any of them decides to run for Attorney General.

March 02, 2008 Posted in open discussion.