Elephant Ears

This blog is dedicated to the political happenings in the Valley and Southwest Virginia. As the the name implies, this blog will have posts based on what is heard by this elephant's (GOPer's) ears. It is also a great treat to get while at the county fair or a carnival.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

27th Senate Race

The fundrace reports are out, and the 27th is heating up fast. In the battle to unseat Russ Potts (if he runs again) there is a ton of money already in the coffers of the candidates.

Mark Tate has raised $260,746 and still has $247,046 of that on hand.
Jill Holtzman-Vogel has raised $323,115 and still has $194,080 on hand.
Russ Potts has raised $122,224 and has $20,594 on hand.

This is interesting because Holtzman-Vogel has long been assumed to end up commanding a huge fund advantage. She still may, as her father can always write a check to give whatever is necessary. She also has alot of RNC connections and VCAP.
I have heard Tate has some major backers as well, but its hard to say how hard they are willing to push the money.

Jill will be kicking her campaign off this week and Mark began his quest a couple weeks ago. There is still no word on whether Russ will run or not.

There appears to be no other major developments in this race other than one. Phil Griffin was a big supporter of Mark Tate and was probably going to be able to deliver a good amount of votes from at least Winchester city to Tate. With the current situation, it is unclear what role he will play if any in this race. My gut feeling is Phil is probably done with politics for awhile, so this may hurt Tate. To what extent, is anyone's guess.

10 Comments:

  • At 1/17/2007 7:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What in the heck has the Holtzman Vogel candidate spent so much money on already? $130,000? So early.

    I hope she wont be this wreckless with my taxpaying dollars.

    Thanks for the update! Anything on our races further south down the Valley?

     
  • At 1/17/2007 10:07 PM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    She has sent out several mailers (I think they are called newsletters).

    As for other races, there aren't really any declared candidates yet that have reported finances.

    Tomorrow I will probably have a few more race updates.

     
  • At 1/18/2007 12:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Why can't one of them move to a different district and run?

     
  • At 1/18/2007 6:13 AM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    Theres no district to run in. Tate could move to the 33rd, but Herring is going to tough to beat there.
    Jill could move to the 28th and primary Chicester, but the 27th is still easier to win right now.
    Whichever one loses this time around may opt to move and run somewhere else.

     
  • At 1/18/2007 1:22 PM, Blogger RBV said…

    any idea of any Dem's that might run?

     
  • At 1/19/2007 9:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have heard that some folks in the 27th were NOT happy she was sending out the "Holtzman Digests" magazines during the Allen campaign last spring and summer. I would imagine the color newsletters cost plently and is probably were the 130,000 has gone. Holtzman is really going to struggle with name recognition since Mark did so well last time.

    Also there are those out there who think Holtzman and Potts may have some type of agreement since many of Potts supporters for governor and moderates are supporting Jill right now. I also have heard that Jill was weak on the pro-life issues in the past but now I hear she is supposedly pro-life. I guess we shall see in the coming weeks.

    Right now I'd say advantage Tate but with Holtzman's access to cash she cannot be taken lightly by any candidate and there could always be a suprise candidate.

     
  • At 1/20/2007 3:39 PM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    gold, there arent any dems running at this point that I know about.
    Remember this is still a pretty solidly GOP district; so any GOP nominee will begin the race as the frontrunner.

     
  • At 1/26/2007 9:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'm not sure what exact advantage that Tate has with his questionable fundraising reports (including this one) and previous defeat to Potts.

    The name recognition argument that Tateites have put forward and have again above is specious. Seeing a man's name one time on a primary ballot or a few Leesburg Today articles a few years ago does not equal name recognition.

    Jill is a pro-life conservative. She is opposed to abortion, end of subject. This isn't late 80s or early 90s Virginia politics anymore. Dick Black is gone, and we can't afford to sit around playing grabass about who is more pro-life than who even if Jill does win that argument anyway.

    Frankly, the Tate commenters are grasping at straws, and it's becoming apparent.

     
  • At 1/26/2007 11:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    anon 9:49

    I am sure you are Holzmans campaign manager or something like that. I guess all Holtzman has is whining about finance reports. Speaking of which, how about Holtzmans ethical problems with Frist and his charities?????

    Not only is Holtzman questionably prolife, possibly in league with Pott's or at least his friends, but she is also apparently unethical or at last appears so by the national media. Yes, lets do talk about ethics and competence. Please!

    Why should be believe she is a recent pro-life convert???? Mrs. Holtzman always refuses comment when asked about Sen.Pott's and his votes.

     
  • At 12/11/2016 8:21 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

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