[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Clint Reilly

For the second presidential race in a row, Washington outsiders versed in the grass-roots tactics of local politics have out-witted and out-maneuvered brand name East Coast media consultants.

This year, Barack Obama’s campaign – headlined by seasoned Chicago consultant David Axelrod – built a series of individual campaigns in states where Hillary Clinton lacked the volunteers to compete.

Obama’s grass-roots army filled the void in states like Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho and North Dakota, allowing him to rack up precious delegates virtually unopposed.

Clinton mistakenly relied on her early lead in the polls to carry her through the primary schedule, while Obama harnessed a volunteer crusade that helped him reel off 11 straight primary victories and provided his margin of victory.

The roots of Obama’s volunteer organization extended deep into the Internet, where a massive array of committed donors armed him with a lethal fundraising advantage.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

When the National Republican Congressional Committee turned to longtime Stockton developer Dean Andal to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney this fall, the GOP probably figured Andal if anything would be able to build a sizeable fundraising advantage thanks to his network of wealthy developer friends. Apparently, they overestimated Andal’s ability to tap into the GOP money machine.
 
According to today’s FEC filings, Andal raised only $90,313.45 in the first quarter of 2008. And of that amount, Andal spent more than $42,000 – almost half.
 
In comparison, the McNerney campaign raised more than three times Andal’s amount – more than $329,000 – adding to the Congressman’s substantial cash-on-hand advantage. Of that amount, more than $51,000 was raised from small, grassroots donors in amounts of $200 or less.

There's more...

by blogswarm [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

As you may remember, at the end of the first quarter I was extremely impressed to see Charlie Brown have a $200,00+ warchest advantage over embattled Congressman John Doolittle. That just isn't how it is supposed to work, the goal of the challenger is just to try and limit the financial advantage of the incumbent and raise enough to compete.

But there is nothing normal about this race...