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As expected Onorato & Corbett have big money leads

There were no real surprises as the first nuggets of state campaign finance data began to trickle out Monday.

In the race for governor, Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett have no rivals in fundraising. Corbett, the Republican front-runner, raked in about $4.2 million in 2009, compared to $3.6 million collected by Onorato. But thanks in part to leftover funds from his 2007 county executive race, Onorato still finished the year with about $6.5 million in cash on hand, compared to about half that amount for Corbett.

Outlines of the fundraising picture had already emerged in the weeks before campaigns filed their year-end reports. The other Democratic candidates finished the year with cash that equaled only a fraction of Onorato’s war chest. Auditor General Jack Wagner brought in about $541,000 during the year, finishing with about $676,000 on hand. Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel raised about $400,000 and had about $229,000 when the year ended. And despite raising almost $800,000 between his campaigns for mayor and governor, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty finished the year with less than $100,000 on hand.

Former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel had an impressive haul after more than a year of laying the groundwork for a Lieutenant Governor bid, sporting about $711,000 at the end of 2009, more than even any gubernatorial candidate other than Onorato and Corbett.

Detailed campaign finance reports had not yet been published online Monday evening. Log-on to pa2010.com later for complete coverage of candidates’ donations, expenses and more.

February 1, 2010 at 11:56 pm

--pa2010.com Staff

Tags: Chris Doherty, Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, Joe Hoeffel, Jonathan Saidel, Lt. Gov., Tom Corbett

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