St Louis Beacon: Sowers first to make FEC figures public; has raised just over $ 1 million
July 13, 2010
By Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter
POSTED 9:03 PM MON., 07.12.10
Tommy Sowers, a Democrat running for Congress in southeast Missouri’s 8th Congressional Districit, made public the official summary sheet of his Federal Election Commission report, showing that he’s raised just over $1 million and has $610,000 in the bank.
Sowers (left) is the first of any state or congressional hopefuls to provide a copy of what he’s submitting by Thursday to the Federal Election Commission.
Thursday is the deadline for the latest round of campaign reports for federal, state and local offices. The reports will cover April 1-June 30.
Sowers is competing against Republican incumbent Jo Ann Emerson,(right) R-Cape Girardeau, and has outraised her two of the last three quarters.
Emerson does, however, have far more name recognition and early polls have given her a sizable edge. All that explains why Sowers already has begun spending some of his campaign cash on TV and radio ads.
The TV ad is running throughout July on broadcast and cable stations, a Sowers spokesman said, disputing a report that they had purchased only a small amount of air time in hopes of generating free press coverage.
The radio ad features an announcer with a country twang describing Sowers as "a man of faith who likes getting up early, driving his truck with his dog, and a feel of a shotgun in his hand." Sowers then blasts Emerson for her support of "bad trade deals and bank bailouts" that he says has cost American jobs.
The ad does NOT mention that Sowers is a Democrat, or that Emerson is a Republican.
Here’s the basic figures on Sowers’ FEC summary, which covers the three months ending June 30:
Raised: $1,014,126.04 ($333,888.53 for the quarter)
Spent: $403,833.01 ($188,922.07 for the quarter)
On hand: $610,293.03
