The Sun-Times had this brief bit in today’s edition…
After raising nearly $30 million during his first term, Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign cupboard is relatively bare.
He had $283,782 in his campaign chest as of the latest reporting date, June 30. That sum has prompted speculation that Blagojevich wants to keep the fund low because his administration is under federal scrutiny, and the last governor, George Ryan, had his campaign fund seized.
Doug Scofield, Blagojevich’s campaign spokesman, scoffed at the idea that the governor has halted his fund-raising.
“I think the second half of the year — now that the budget is completed — we’re going to turn to fund-raising with a major event sometime this fall,” Scofield said.
Scofield told me the same thing when I called him about this over a month ago. He also claimed that Blagojevich had put off his annual funder because of the overtime session fights. So far, though, I haven’t heard of any major fundraising activity yet.
The governor has shown time and time again that he can raise lots of cash at the drop of a hat, so I’m not sure this means too much. Then again, the longer he waits to raise money, the more speculation will abound that he may not be running for a third term, which will make him a lame duck in some minds.
Thoughts?