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Marino camp spins fundraising numbers, promises better (Updated)

For Republican Tom Marino, there’s pretty much no place to go but up.

When campaign finance disclosures were filed last week, Marino, the former U.S. Attorney and 10th District hopeful, reported having a paltry $11,000 in the bank. It was the smallest haul of a fundraising cycle that was disappointing for Republican candidates across the Pennsylvania. And among more than 100 top-tier Republican challengers throughout the country, Marino’s cash-on-hand ranked dead last, according to research compiled by a Democrat watching the race (17th District candidate Dave Argall is third to last).

The financial situation puts Congressman Chris Carney (D-10), who has more than 70 times Marino’s resources, in a commanding position just over three months before Election Day.

But Marino’s campaign says reports of its demise are premature. In an interview with pa2010.com, Marino campaign manager David Weber promised a dramatic turnaround in the coming months. He noted that Marino was hospitalized after a car accident, and also that the candidate’s daughter has been ill.

“We’ve experienced some setbacks with Tom going into the hospital after being hit by a drunk driver, and a minor setback with his daughter, who has cystic fibrosis,” Weber said. “We were not expecting to show as strongly at this point as Chris Carney did, but that’s not a real problem yet.”

And Weber tried to position his candidate as the one receiving support from within the northeast Pennsylvania district.

“We’ve had over ninety percent of our donations come from voters within the district,” Weber said. “Carney has raised a lot of his money from liberal political action committees in D.C., while our money has come from small business owners, farmers, laborers, people from all walks in life.”

Regardless of where the money comes from, Marino will surely need much more of it to counter whatever paid media efforts the Carney campaign has in the works. Weber said the campaign would continue its efforts to frame the race as a conservative-liberal showdown, a dynamic it sees as favorable in the conservative-leaning district.

“Are we satisfied?” Weber said. “You’re never satisfied with fundraising. You always want to raise more money, that’s how this goes, but we will raise what we need to win.”

UPDATE—In a statement to pa2010.com, Carney campaign manager Max Cummings responds: “The Marino camp can spin this however they please, but here are the facts: Congressman Carney received contributions in the last two months from more than 400 individuals—business owners, farmers and families throughout the 10th District. That was more than four times the number of Marino donors.”

July 20, 2010 at 11:05 am

--John Manganaro

Tags: Chris Carney, PA-10, Tom Marino

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