Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign picked up a $3.2 million boost during the last half of 2009, out-raising Democratic rival Dan Hynes by more than $829,000 and topping the list of all gubernatorial candidates in total receipts for that period.
But while Hynes, the Illinois comptroller, came in second for receipts, he had more than twice the cash on hand as Quinn, with $3.1 million in available funds on Dec. 31.
Campaign disclosures filed through yesterday also reveal that former Attorney General Jim Ryan, who led a December poll by the Chicago Tribune and WGN, lagged all but one Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dan Proft, in fund raising from July through the end of the year.
According to his campaign committee's semiannual report, Ryan raised about $313,000 during that period, leaving him with little more than $190,000 in available cash by the end of December.
Ryan's figures pale in comparison with those of Andy McKenna, second in the Tribune's Republican primary poll, and Kirk Dillard, third. Both candidates surpassed the $1 million mark during the second half of 2009 alone — and McKenna by far.
McKenna, a businessman and former Illinois Republican Party chairman, amassed more than $2.2 million in that period, and he was clearly spending the money. Dropping much of the cash on his "Hair" ads, McKenna had less than $64,000 in his coffers by December's end.
Dillard, a state senator, was more thrifty: At the year's close, he had held on to almost $369,000 of the $1.4 million his campaign raised by the end of 2009.
The figures in both the Democratic and Republican races show that trailing candidates in a poll taken less than two months ago have a solid chance to win their primaries.
Hynes, second to Quinn in the Tribune's Democratic primary poll, has been spending a lot of money on television advertisements this year, so he may have consumed much of his available cash from December. But if he has held on to some and continued his fund-raising pace, then he may be able to continue thrashing Quinn on the air and drown out the governor's messages.
Even if Quinn continues to play defense, he will have a tough time responding to Hynes' media bombardment through Feb. 2.
Meanwhile, the Republicans now have a solidly documented three-way race.
Dillard and McKenna were already factors in the poll, and now Ryan has little more than his name recognition to battle them. Unless the former attorney general musters up some serious cash this month, he's going to have trouble shouting down his opponents.
There's a big story here, folks. If Ryan's financial figures are accurate, Republican donors have just dealt a huge blow to an establishment conservative.
Ryan, who ran for governor unsuccessfully against Rod Blagojevich in 2002, may be facing another letdown, and this time before the general election.
Here are more detailed figures, from July 1 through Dec. 31.
Keep in mind that some candidates started with cash on hand from the previous period, Jan. 1 through June 30. So some may have spent more than they raised in the second half of the year and still had money left over.
To access a candidate's full semiannual report, just click on his name:
If you'd like to analyze the numbers more closely, I have also created a spreadsheet of the aggregate data in Excel and PDF formats.
Notice something interesting in these reports? Please send me an e-mail at adrian@chicagocurrent.com.
Windy Citizen 