Angle clears debt to mount new bid for Congress
Sharron Angle raised a jaw-dropping $710,000 as her buy-in to run for the U.S. House from Nevada in the next election. But in the process she also spent a lot of money to pay off debts from her last political campaign.
Angle's haul during the first three months of the year ranked her among the top fundraisers for House seats, according to Congressional Quarterly.
It suggested the ability of the Northern Nevada Republican and Tea Party favorite to energize the wallets of supporters through online and other means has not been diminished from when she raised $28 million during a losing campaign for Senate in 2010.
But as she began a new campaign to represent the sprawling Washoe County-based Congressional District 2, Angle also spent $546,095 during the quarter, according to a finance report she filed late last week with the Federal Election Commission.
More than half of her expenditures, $352,651, went to pay off expensive direct mail vendors and consultants from her Senate bid, including Base-Connect Inc., a direct mail firm that came under scrutiny for the high fees it charged GOP clients.
Indeed, as Angle raised $28 million in her bid to unseat Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., analysts noted disproportionate sums were being spent on campaign machinery. When the challenger reported raising a eye-opening $14 million over three months last summer, the online site Salon calculated she spent "a whopping $5.3 million on fundraising expenses."
It was not clear from Angle's latest report if she had rehired with Base-Connect for her House race. Her campaign did not respond to a call on Tuesday.
Angle's finance report does indicates she has signed up again with the firm of her chief 2010 fundraiser Amanda Kornegay. Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who is testing the waters for a presidential race, also has hired Kornegay.
Angle's fundraising during the initial months of the campaign was built largely on small donations. She reported raising $527,694 in sums of less than $200, and reported no contributions from political action committees.
For all that was raised and spent, the candidate had only $175,982 cash on hand to carry her campaign forward as of March 31, the close of the reporting period. That amount places her among fundraising mortals running for Congress. But that was the cost of cleaning the slate as she renews her bid to get to Washington.
