NM-01: Heinrich Raises Impressive $750K in Third Quarter

Martin Heinrich (NM-01), Brian Colon (DPNM), Harry Teague (NM-02), Ben Ray Lujan (NM-03) at Blue State in '08 reception Friday at Los Poblanos Inn in Albuquerque

The word is that the campaign of NM-01 Dem candidate Martin Heinrich raised about $750,000 in the third quarter that ended on September 30, 2008. That's quite a haul, especially considering that the campaign of his GOP rival, Darren White, will be suffering from the recent cancellation of more than $500,000 in Albuquerque area TV ad time by the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC). Talk about a "no confidence" vote on White by the NRCC. Heinrich commented on his impressive third quarter fundraising numbers in a statement released by his campaign:

"These numbers make clear that voters are rejecting Darren White's support of eight years of failed Republicans policies, and saying yes to a new direction for our country. Our message of middle class tax cuts, affordable health care and a responsible end to the war in Iraq is being embraced by Central New Mexico voters and I wholeheartedly thank them for their support."

Meanwhile, White's campaign seems to be limping along financially, and it's had to publicly admit as much, although it claimed that was no surprise. "Campaign spokesman Stephen Schatz said the campaign had expected to be behind in funding, but that it has enough resources to battle on through Nov. 4." (emphasis mine)

Schatz also said, "Republicans went into the 2008 campaign lagging behind Democrats in funding. We always knew we were going to be outspent in this race, and we budgeted and planned appropriately. We are in a strong position financially, and have our television time booked through Election Day. We are confident that we will have the resources necessary to win this race.”

Well, what else was Schatz going to say as we head into the last few weeks before the election? Unfortunately, his statement is apparently misleading. When TV logs were checked at KOB, KRQE and KOAT, they reportedly showed the White campaign had only paid for TV ads through October 18 of this year. It will be fascinating to see how much White managed to raise in the third quarter, with even the NRCC demonstrating its lack of faith in his campaign.

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