24th District Fundraising Update

It's time for a little update on the fundraising status of the Democratic campaigns - a short update, because the story just got a lot more simple.

Jeff Miller, who raised $25, has bowed out.

Michael Arcuri, whose filing showed $10,150 raised, actually raised nothing at all, because that money, which he spent on some kind of services from Zogby International, was really just made up of a loan to the campaign, and another contribution, both straight out of Michael Arcuri's own pocketbook. So, the Arcuri for Congress campaign had not, as of the filing deadline, raised a single penny.

The Les Roberts campaign remains where I originally reported it, plus a little bit more, but minus a loan from the candidate to the campaign. They filed a report of $49,738 in campaign receipts, with a $10,000 start up loan, so that means they got $39,738 in individual donations. You'll note that no PAC money has entered the Les Roberts campaign.

You can't say the same of the Sherwood Boehlert re-election campaign. They've got $198,600 in PAC contributions so far. As a sitting member of Congress, Sherwood Boehlert has attracted what we might generously call "investment" from special interest groups. So, yes, it will be an uphill battle for any Democrat trying to unseat Sherwood Boehlert, even though Boehlert's fundraising machine shows signs of a significant slowdown.

We'll be taking a look at some of the special interest groups that are trying to buy a little bit of Congressman Boehlert's attention in the days to come. Let me just give a preview in revealing that after you find out what corporate interests support Sherwood Boehlert's re-election, you may be left feeling filthy, in a second-hand kind of way.

Ah, but I give away too much... wait for it.