Pearce gets some help
Steve Pearce is getting a little help from Republican senators in trying to close the fund-raising gap between himself and his Democratic opponent, fellow U.S. Rep. Tom Udall.
U.S. Sen. John Conryn, R-Texas, is already working toward electing Republican senators in the West. According to a Roll Call article, he raised money in two different fund-raisers Tuesday, one in Dallas and one in Houston.
Cornyn, who is actively considering a run for National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman should he win re-election this year, expects to raise a total of $300,000 at today's events for the GOP Senate nominees in Colorado, Louisiana and New Mexico.
Pearce is, of course, the Republican Senate nominee in New Mexico. The fund-raiser also benefited two other Republicans, former Rep. Bob Schaffer, who is running against Udall's cousin Rep. Mark Udall, and Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy, who is running against Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu.
Both Colorado and New Mexico are open seats, which are currently held by Republicans. Louisiana is considered by many outside observers to be the only possible Senate pickup for the Republicans.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., is starting a "leadership" political action committee to help elect conservative senators, according to CQ Politics. The Senate Conservatives Fund will be "dedicated to nominating and electing conservative Republicans," according to the Washington, D.C.-based news organization.
In a video interview with CQ Politics, available below, DeMint described how the Senate Conservatives Fund will work.
"The Senate Conservative [sic] Fund is just designed to select a few candidates a cycle and to fund them with not just donations to the candidates, but independent expenditures that can help promote those principles that the candidate stands for," DeMint told CQ Politics writer Jonathon Allen.
Pearce has already received substantial support from outside groups with independent expenditures. The anti-tax group Club for Growth aired ads on the behalf of Pearce during the primary. These attacked both his Republican opponent, Heather Wilson, and Udall, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. At the same time, anti-spending and pro-life groups helped Pearce in the primary.
"The Senate Conservative [sic] Fund is going to focus on candidates who are going to stand on all three legs of the party," DeMint said. "That's their strong defense, limited government and the traditional values that we've always stood for."
Those three "legs" are what Pearce emphasized in his primary campaign against Wilson, especially the limited government, in the form of limited spending.
Pearce starts off the general election at a huge money disadvantage to Udall because of the expensive primary campaign.
According to FEC reports from May 15, via OpenSecrets.org Pearce had raised $1,892,378 but had just $248,245 left. Udall, on the other hand, had raised $3,216,864 and had $2,876,030 left in his campaign war chest.
These numbers are surely out of date, since they do not include the final two weeks' worth of campaigning by both candidates.
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