The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

In a post on the KC Buzz Blog, Dave Helling mentioned the following from a Brownback press conference:

Brownback says as his name recognition grows, so will fundraising for his campaign. December isn’t a good month to raise money, he told reporters.

In other words, Senator Sam Brownback’s end of the year fundraising report is going to be dismal. When you start massaging expectations this early, you know things are looking grim. The report cut off date is December 31, 2006 and the filing date is January 31, 2007. Methinks Brownback’s staff won’t have too much trouble preparing the report.

Anyone have any guesses as to Brownback’s total raised (not including his transfer from the PAC) and his Cash on Hand (COH)?

So it turns out that Mitt Romney, back in the 1990’s, thought gays and lesbians were people entitled to rights and representation. While that doesn’t sound like a big deal to mainstream America, the extemists that make up the republican presidential primary are less than pleased.

Yesterday in Iowa, Senator Sam Brownback was asked about Romney’s one time support of gay rights. He punted the question:

Asked if favoring gay rights would doom a candidate in the GOP primary season, Brownback said: “I don’t know about that. I mean, where are you on taxes? The base of the party is issue-oriented and issue-driven, so those are significant things.”

Brownback said it’s far too early to dismiss candidates because of their views on volatile issues such as gay rights.

“We are way, way early in this process, so I wouldn’t rule anybody out or in at this point in time,” said Brownback.

Sure, this fits with the “compassionate” bit that Brownback is trying to play, but he has to attack, attack, attack if he hopes to have any chance at the nomination. Brownback needs to rile his backwards, extremist and bigoted voters into a frenzy of delusion that he could ever become President.

Ducking out of a chance to criticize another candidate who holds more liberal views is no way to stage a come-from-behind victory.

In presidential politics, the term “Whale” refers to the biggest of the big donors. Since they are limited by campaign finance laws from giving more than $2100 to a candidate, they bundle their donation with those of their rich friends. On the republican side, President Bush named these fundraisers pioneers ($100,000) and rangers($200,000).

The Washington Post reports that John McCain and Mitt Romney are competing for these pioneers and rangers at a frantic pace. It also notes:

Other potential 2008 GOP candidates, including former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sens. Sam Brownback (Kan.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), are far behind in the pursuit of these fundraising big shots.

This is Brownback’s biggest weakness. At a certain point, it all comes down to money. He has never had to raise very much for his senate races and his lack of a high profile will hamper finding new donors. It remains to be seen whether the evangelical base that supports him with prayers will also support him with their wallets.

Brownback’s campaign staff has previously stated that they expect Iowa to be do or die for fundraising. If he does surprisingly well in Iowa, the money could come in. But running in Iowa isn’t cheap, and he will have to have a decent chunk of change in order to even be competitive.