Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, said in a commentary published Wednesday by the Washington Times that his teenage mother had considered terminating her pregnancy with him.Down the stretch, Sen.-elect Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., apparently got more bang for his fundraising buck than Republican foe Richard Mourdock did.
In the homestretch of his campaign, Donnelly paid three professional fundraisers about $15,000 combined. He raised $862,000 in campaign contributions in the period, according to a postelection finance report he recently filed with the Federal Election Commission.
In the same time frame, State Treasurer Mourdock raised $1.034 million, but he spent 10 times as much – paying $155,000 to seven professional fundraisers – as Donnelly did. In essence, Mourdock shelled out $140,000 more than Donnelly to gain a $172,000 fundraising advantage in the last weeks of the race.
The reports are for contributions and expenses from Oct. 18 to Nov. 26. Donnelly, a member of the U.S. House, beat Mourdock by roughly 6 percentage points.
Mourdock’s fundraising expenses for the period included about $49,000 paid to the Gula Graham Group of Washington, D.C., $34,000 to campaign finance director Ashlee Walls of Indianapolis, $32,000 to the Prosper Group of Greenwood and $29,000 to the Rainmakers of Springfield, Va.
Walls recently sent out a solicitation to Mourdock supporters that asks for their help in retiring his campaign debt. In the email, she blamed Mourdock’s loss on “the liberal media” and “media bias by reporters more interested in defeating conservatives than reporting the news.”
The FEC report shows Mourdock’s campaign is $316,000 in debt, much of it owed to Mourdock himself. He lent his campaign $205,000 in 2011 and paid for nearly $26,000 in polling and travel expenses out of his own pocket.
Donnelly’s campaign lists a debt of $126,000. About $19,000 of it is owed to Donnelly, much of it for personal payments he made to fundraising and political consultants.
Pence in Warsaw
Gov.-elect Mike Pence will follow Mitch Daniels in more ways than one.
Pence will be the keynote speaker for the Warsaw Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce’s 101st annual membership dinner next month.
Daniels was the keynote speaker for the chamber’s 100th annual membership dinner and centennial celebration last January.
Next month’s event is Jan. 23 at the Orthopaedic Capital Center at Grace College. Reception starts at 5:15 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m.
