From Southeast to Northwest, the Senate is Going Blue!

By: legacyofmarshall
Published On: 9/17/2007 9:04:22 PM

Well, it's in no fun format, but the July-August finance disclosures are out, and they spell big trouble for the slim Republican majority in the Virginia Senate.  Given the astounding success several Democratic candidates for Senate (even more amazing compared to weak returns from their Republican opponents), we Democrats should be electrified to know that with hard work, a strong Democratic majority will prevail in the Upper House in Richmond this November, and Creigh Deeds should start to worry about who to give money to, because the number of races considered "in play" just exploded.

Below:
John Miller, Ralph Northam, Steven Heretick, Michael Breiner, Karen Schultz, Chap Petersen, and George Barker
District 1:
Democrat: John Miller:
Raised: 194,705
Spent: 32,781
Difference: 161,924

Republican: Tricia "Seperation of Schools and Staet" Stall:
Raised: 42,705
Spent: 14,560
Difference: 28,145

Democrat money advantage: 133,799

Absolutely beautiful.  The sweetest part is that half of Stall's money came from individuals giving $100 or less (likely to not contribute any big money in the future), and the other half came from the Republican State Leadership Committee, who will probably abandon her after this painfully poor showing, not to mention her abysmal polling results against non-insane John Miller.

District 6:
Democrat: Ralph Northam:
Raised: 184,787
Spent: 44,189
Difference: 140,598

Republican: Nick "Femenazi" Rerras (Incumbent):
NO CAMPAIGN FINANCE DISCLOSURE POSTED

Democrat money advantage: Unknown

What's the matter Nicky?  Scared of painfully low numbers?  Or are you trying to illegally squeeze a few more bucks out of donors to make Richmond think you've still got a chance.  I don't know what else to say about this one.  Dr. Northam's on a roll.

District 13:
Democrat: Steven Heretick
Raised: 102,584
Spent: 29,633
Difference: 72,951

Republican: Fred Quayle (Incumbent):
Raised: 67,924
Spent: 21,259
Difference: 46,665

Democratic money advantage: 26,286

Wow, I knew Heretick was serious, but I didn't know he was *that* serious.  Creigh Deeds and the Dems in Richmond are already starting to dump a lot of money into this race.  It's obvious they think we can win it.

District 22:
Democrat: Michael Breiner:
Raised: 52,112
Spent: 23,813
Difference: 28,229

Republican: Ralph Smith:
Raised: 28,630
Spent: 16,923
Difference: 11,704

Democratic money advantage: 16,525

No offense Mr. Breiner, but I've never heard of you before now.  Ralph Smith defeated the incumbent Republican senator in the June primary (now where have I heard that before...) and it looks like his campaign isn't doing as well as his far-right network expected it to do.  The Republicans haven't spent any money on him yet, probably taking Southwest Virginia for granted.  Big mistake, the battle isn't just in Hampton Roads and NoVA, it's everywhere.

District 27:
Democrat: Karen Schultz:
Raised: 147,690
Spent: 70,000
Difference: 77,690

Republican: Jill Holtzman-Vogel:
Raised: 195,286
Spent: 125,850
LOANS TAKEN: 50,000
Difference: 19,436

Democratic money advantage: 58,254

Now this race just warms my heart.  Mrs. Schultz is a wonderful person, and her opponent is a money spending machine.  After raising over HALF A MILLION for the primary and spending all but 100K to win against an indicted felon, Holtzman-Vogel now needs a loan!  Senator Karen Schultz, I can't wait.

District 34:
Democrat: Chap Petersen:
Raised: 120,341
Spent: 105,234
Difference: 15,107

Republican: Jeanmarie "Big Spender" Devolites-Davis (Incumbent):
Raised: 84,785
Spent: 93,898
Difference: -9,113

Democratic money advantage: 24,220

The minute you entered this race.
I could see you were a woman with ambition
A real big spender
Well married, so endowed.
Say, wouldn't you like to know,
Who's gonna vote in your district?
So let me get right to the point:
We like CHAP! yeah we like what we see.
Hey big spender!
Spend... some cash on Fairfax votes.
(Both Petersen and Devolites-Davis performed far below expectations, but Devolites-Davis performed WAY far below expectations.  Her race is over).

District 39:
Democrat: George Barker:
Raised: 150,808
Spent: 19,371
Difference: 131,437

Republican: Jay O'Brien (Incumbent):
Raised: 118,040
Spent: 62,976
Difference: 55,064

Democratic money advantage: 76,373

This is a big-money race, and George Barker's got the bigger money.  I don't know much about this race, but one thing's for sure: the $50,000 that State Republicans just blew on Jay O'Brien, well, they blew it.  George Barker's gonna win.

So here's what we've got, competitive races in every corner of the State.  Roanoke to Fairfax to Hampton to Winchester.  We need to get out and win these races.  The candidates and campaigns have done the sticky work raising all this money, now Tim Kaine can let loose his hounds of war (in the form of his MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PAC) and we grassroots Dems can do the legwork for this massive electoral upheaval.  Let's get to work.

NOTE: I specifically put all in-kind donations solely as RECIEPTS and not RECIEPTS AND EXPENSES as VPAP categorizes them.  This means that all "raised" number (for Republicans and Democrats) are inflated.  I just don't want anyone telling me I got the numbers wrong, as I did this intentionally to show the amount of money going through the races.

Comments



Vogel's Spending (Evan M - 9/18/2007 11:57:56 AM)
What scares me is Holtzman-Vogel's willingness to spend her contributor's money, willy-nilly and take out loans to advance her career. If this is how she treats the money given to her campaign by supporters what will she do when she gets her hands on our tax dollars?


Breiner for SEnate (VTYogi - 9/21/2007 3:32:21 PM)
I have started seeing a lot more Breiner signs and he has been in the news all week.  He has been in the Roanoke times to.,  I know that no one thinks a democrat can win down here but this is an open seat and Ralph SMith is a bastard.  I hope for all of our sakes Breiner wins.