War chest full enough, Pryor advises supporters
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
U. S. Sen. Mark Pryor, DArk., doesn’t need any more money.
“I have instructed my fundraisers to no longer solicit funds for my re-election,” Pryor wrote in an Oct. 2 mailer that some voters received in their mailboxes this week. “With your help and generosity, we have raised enough money for this race but that doesn’t mean the campaign is over.”
He pointed out that he faces a “serious opponent” on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. He didn’t use her name. She’s Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy.
Pryor’s last campaign-finance report showed that he had raised $ 5. 4 million and spent $ 1. 9 million through June 30. His next Federal Election Commission report is due Oct. 15.
“I think the fact that he’s gathered several million dollars ought to be enough, especially when your opponent has gathered just $ 12, 000,” Kennedy said Tuesday.
Pryor has no Republican opponent, no independent opponent, and no write-in opponent.
Several veterans of Arkansas politics could think of no previous instance in which a candidate with an opponent declared that he had enough campaign dough.
The senator’s campaign only recently began gearing up, in a manner of speaking. Pryor’s state director, Randy Massanelli, didn’t take a leave of absence from his federal job to work as campaign manager until Oct. 1.
That’s when the campaign headquarters three blocks from the state Capitol opened. It’s not yet exactly a beehive of activity.
The style of decor could be called stark and barren. Most rooms are empty. There is a fax machine, a few Pryor campaign signs, a laptop computer.
A tarp, about 6-feet-by-6-feet, with the Pryor logo on it, is flat on the floor. It doesn’t have a home yet.
“I just found it in storage,” Massanelli said.
The campaign has two other employees, who spend most of their time putting up signs around the state for people who request them.
Massanelli is usually the one at the campaign office. And sometimes even he’s not there.
It’s quite a change from 2002, when Pryor waged a nonstop campaign that unseated U. S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark. That campaign was in full gear more than a year before the election.
This year, some might wonder why Pryor has a campaign office and staff at all.
Massanelli said it would be “arrogance” for Pryor to forgo campaigning.
“We don’t discount anyone,” Massanelli said. “If they have their name on the ballot, we treat them with the respect they deserve. We really campaign because we are asking the people to vote for Sen. Pryor and send him back to Washington for another six years. We take that seriously. This isn’t his seat. It belongs to Arkansas.”
Pryor struck a similar theme in his mailer.
But he also looked back at a big campaign payday: “Serving as your United States senator is a great privilege and honor and I would never assume that my re-election is assured just by showing up. I have worked to make sure Arkansas always comes first and to never take my public service for granted. That’s why I launched this reelection effort early last year with a successful celebration event that drew more than 1, 000 enthusiastic friends and supporters.”
That fundraiser in Little Rock in March 2007 netted $ 800, 000.
By the end of the year, he had raised $ 4. 8 million.
Since then, his fundraising has slowed. He raised about $ 150, 000 during the latest reporting period, April to June.
“We feel we have resources to meet our plan in this race,” Massanelli said.
He points out that Pryor supporters still want bumper stickers and yard signs and want him at events.
Pryor learned on March 10, the last day of the filing period, that he had no Republican opponent.
Massanelli said the campaign continued raising money a few more months after that because fundraisers were already scheduled.
Did the campaign think about sending any of the money back to the contributors ?
“No, they gave it to us for our campaign re-election to keep him in office,” Massanelli said. “We’ll be good stewards of that money.”
He said the money can be saved for the 2014 campaign, should the senator seek a third term.
Pryor has contributed some of his funds to state Democratic legislative candidates, the maximum $ 2, 000 each.
State Republican Party Chairman Dennis Milligan of Bryant joked that he’s glad Pryor “left some” dollars for “the rest of us.”
But, he said, he had no criticism of Pryor’s fundraising strategy.
“It’s strictly Mr. Pryor’s call as to what he thinks is enough,” he said.
Milligan describes Pryor as having “no opponents,” despite Kennedy’s place on the ballot.
Longtime Pryor ally Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, said it’s “somewhat of a stretch” to say Pryor has a contested race. “Most people think he’s unopposed,” Rutherford said.
Rex Nelson, a former aide to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, said, “When you don’t have major party opposition, you’re almost going through the motions.”
Neither Rutherford, Nelson nor Massanelli could think of a precedent of a candidate telling supporters he had enough money.
Rutherford said most people won’t have a problem with the amount Pryor raised.
“That might have been the case 20 years ago,” he said. “I think people now when they see how much it takes to run for office, people seem to be fairly sensitized to that. Supporters like knowing their candidate has a war chest. Money scares off competition.”
Kennedy said Pryor’s fundraising has been “reasonable” and she understands that Pryor can’t take her for granted. She said she doesn’t feel slighted that Pryor has stopped fundraising.
“Building the Green Party is our primary objective,” she said. “Mark Pryor is the favorite. I wouldn’t say I have no expectations of winning, but we’re going into this open-minded. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a done deal.”
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