Indiana Senate Primary Fundraising

WISH-TV’s Jim Shella reported that PACs are outspending the candidates in the Indiana Senate primary race.

But consider this: While Richard Lugar has spent close to $2 million dollars on TV ads and Mourdock over $400,000, political action committees have spent more than both candidates combined, about $2.37 million. The Lugar campaign doesn’t like it. “Most people in politics today would prefer a system that has a greater degree of transparency,” says spokesman Andy Fisher, “and campaigns that are contolled by the candidates.”

So far, the independent money favors Mourdock. The Club for Growth has spent $1.2 million on television while the American Action Network tab is at $636,000.

So let’s take a look at the numbers from the race so far.

Candidate fundraising

Indiana Senate – candidate fundraising
Candidate Name Raised Cash on Hand
Joe Donnelly $312,631 $861,194
Richard Lugar $817,018 $2,508,966
Richard Mourdock $879,242 $436,005

Our permanent incumbent, Senator Lugar, raised more than $800,000 since January, bring his total for the cycle to more than $5.3 million. He also reported about $2.35 million in operating expenditures for the first quarter of 2012.

His GOP primary challenger, Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, still doesn’t have a quarterly report posted on the FEC’s website. Update: Mourdock’s report is now available, and I’ve updated the numbers in the table above. A few days ago, Mourdock’s campaign announced that they had outraised Lugar for the quarter, bringing in about $875,000. The same reports announced that Mourdock had $430,000 on hand at the end of March.

Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly raised just over $300,000 since January, and has raised about $1.7 million in total.

I couldn’t find any information on Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning’s finances.

As Maureen Groppe reports in the Indianapolis Star, 72% of Mourdock’s large individual donations have come from outside of Indiana.

Of the $621,943 that Mourdock collected in contributions of $201 or more, the amount for which individuals contributors have to be identified, about $450,000 or 72 percent came from people who live outside Indiana. A large chunk of those contributions were funneled to Mourdock’s campaign by the Club for Growth, a conservative group that has endorsed Mourdock.

The Star found that just more than half of Lugar’s large individual donors are not Indiana residents.

Independent Expenditures

According to the Sunlight Foundation’s “Follow the Unlimited Money” tracker, the biggest outside spender in the race – by far – has been the Club for Growth. The Club for Growth, led by former Indiana Republican Congressman Chris Chocola, has spent $842,628.08 in the race: $410,086.79 supporting Mourdock and $432,541.29 opposing Lugar.

There’s some confusion created by the fact the Club for Growth uses at least 3 committees: the Club for Growth, the Club for Growth PAC, and Club for Growth Action. (I’ve combined all the expenditures for all 3 above, for the sake of clarity.)

Indiana Senate – Independent Expenditures
Candidate Name Supporting Opposing
Richard Lugar $0 $632,502.58
Richard Mourdock $794,865.19 $663,822.88

I’m not sure how Shella calculated that outside groups have spent $2.37 million on television, since Sunlight’s numbers add up to only $1.96 million in total, and the data I downloaded from the FEC totals just over $2 million, including some duplicates.

I’ve also omitted any filings from the largely-unsearchable Electioneering Communications disclosures, because I haven’t come across any references to the Indiana Senate campaign.