Fundraising in the 18th race

Out & About Newspaper just published a helpful piece on fundraising in the 18th District race. David Glasgow held a slight lead over John Ray Clemmons based on the disclosure of contributions made by January 15. Both candidates report $11,000 cash on hand. Clemmons has upped the ante a bit by setting a goal of $25,000 while Glasgow pursues a total of $20,000, which would go up in a runoff. Clemmons reported only one PAC contrtibution with the rest of the funds coming from individuals. Out & About notes that some of the early contributions came from out of state while Glasgow had raised most of his money from smaller, local contributions.

Kristine LaLonde, who has actively been fundraising, plans to release more information with the next financial disclosure on March 19. Out & About notes a Nashville Post story by Nate Rau indicating that LaLonde is in the same fundraising ballpark as Glasgow and Clemmons. Her recent endorsement by Women in Numbers should certainly be an additional help as she attracts contributions. I could be wrong, but I think Out & About broke that news. I don't recall seeing it before, but it's a notable endorsement.

Clemmons indicated that he has not yet received any endorsements, but then again, most groups have not yet made their decisions.

The big question mark in terms of fundraising is in Stephenie Dodson's numbers. The Out & About piece indicated that she had not replied to questions.

For four people to be in a race in which they are all trying to raise between $15,000 and $25,000 for a district Metro Council seat in a bad economy and right after a presidential race and the English-Only ballot initiative is pretty amazing. They could all be on track to achieve their fundraising goals. That's either one index of how interested the voters are or how much pressure there is going to be to take outside money/PAC money, etc to make the goal.