Published by Lindsay Renick Mayer on December 5, 2008
Other lawmakers and party committees have whipped up a financial storm in the two Louisiana House races set to take place this Saturday. The party primaries in both the 2nd District and 4th were delayed in September because of Hurricane Gustav, pushing back the entire election schedule and giving interested parties more time to finance their candidates of choice.
Some of the most interested groups, it seems, are the candidates’ own parties. In the 2nd District, embattled Democratic Rep. William Jefferson’s most generous groups have been the candidate committees and leadership PACs of other lawmakers. This election cycle, Jefferson, who was indicted last year on corruption charges, has raised $294,800 compared to opponent Anh (Joseph) Cao, who has raised $113,500. In the 4th District, leadership PACs and candidate committees are among the top givers to both Democrat Paul Carmouche, who has raised a total of $1.2 million from all sources this cycle, and Republican John Fleming, who has raised $1.4 million.
Parties are taking an additional measure to ensure their candidates win the race. Together, the National Republican Congressional Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have spent $2.1 million this cycle between both races on independent expenditures, which are ads and other promotions that are meant to support or oppose one candidate or the other. The committees can spend an unlimited amount on these efforts, and they’ve focused the bulk of their money between these two races on the 4th District race in the last week, spending $520,850.
Categories:
Katy's Exposure 