Money and civics

Below is a Sun-Sentinel article about how much money is being raised for the Florida 22nd congressional race. Incumbent Republican Clay Shaw is facing a serious challenge from State Senator Ron Klein.

I reside in the Florida 22nd. In the months ahead I'll be blogging alot more about what will be one of the critical races in November. Here is an earlier post of mine about the race.

That both parties are pouring money in comes as no surprise. Shaw was almost unseated in 2000, and had serious opposition in 2002. It is natural that the Democrats see him as vulnerable.

One other comment. The Sun-Sentinel headline writers need a civics lesson. Here is the article's headline-

Coffers expand in Klein and Shaw dueling senate bids

This is a House bid, not Senate bid. Apparently the headline writer doesn't know the difference. Does the Sun-Sentinel newspaper hire people who can't read?

Open Post- Adam's Blog, Right Wing Nation,

Fort Lauderdale · The political battle between Republican incumbent Congressman Clay Shaw and his rival, Ron Klein, has a mountain of money behind it now.

Between the two candidates, they've raised more than $5 million to get their messages out to the 600,000-plus voters in Congressional District 22, which spans Broward and Palm Beach counties. Shaw's seat is one of the most hotly contested in the country.

This week, Shaw's campaign said it had collected almost $1.3 million in the past three months, while Klein, a Democratic state senator from Boca Raton, collected almost $800,000.

Shaw's drive to pull in campaign cash got a boost this quarter from President Bush, who helped him raise more than $800,00 one night in May at the Fort Lauderdale home of auto dealer Mike Maroone.

"We're on track,'' said Shaw's campaign manager, Larry Casey.

Klein campaign manager Brian Smoot said his candidate's fundraising kept pace, not counting the Bush blip.

"If you take that out of the picture, what did they raise?'' he said. "Our fundraising was pretty impressive for the quarter.''

So far, Shaw has raised a total of about $2.8 million while Klein has raised almost $2.6 million, their offices reported Thursday.

Also on the ballot in the Nov. 7 race is Neil J. Evangelista, who is running with no party affiliation. The Boca Raton resident could not be reached for comment on his fundraising.

Some of the money Shaw and Klein collected has been spent. Shaw has the most leftover, with more than $3 million to spend. He started this campaign with money leftover from his last one. Klein has more than $2.1 million to spend.