Deconstructing Halter's Million Dollars
We have recently compared Democratic Gubinatorial candidate Mike Bebee's style to a catfish, because of the slippery ways of that critter, which make it hard to pin down. Sticking with the fish analogy, the Democrat's man for Lt. Governor, Bill Halter, would have to be a pufferfish.
You know the aquatic creature I am talking about? It is the one that swells itself up to try to appear bigger and badder than it really is in an effort to pysche out other fish.
Yes, it is all over the news today that Halter has loaned his campaign one million dollars. No, that is not a sign that he has the race locked up. In fact, when you look at the details it is proof that his campaign is in trouble, unless Democratic donors buy the "inevitablity" con that he is trying to pull off on them.
(continued- click "Tuesday" below and scroll down for the rest of the story, or if sent straight here just scroll down)
You know the aquatic creature I am talking about? It is the one that swells itself up to try to appear bigger and badder than it really is in an effort to pysche out other fish.
Yes, it is all over the news today that Halter has loaned his campaign one million dollars. No, that is not a sign that he has the race locked up. In fact, when you look at the details it is proof that his campaign is in trouble, unless Democratic donors buy the "inevitablity" con that he is trying to pull off on them.
(continued- click "Tuesday" below and scroll down for the rest of the story, or if sent straight here just scroll down)
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Tuesday, August 01, 2006
11 Comments:
First of all, Halter does NOT have a million dollars in his war chest. The reported amount is NOT an ADDITIONAL million dollars Halter has loaned himself on top of all his other loans. It is the total of all loans. Halter has loaned himself over a million dollars since campaigning began, and has spent over two-thirds of it securing the Democratic nomination. He has $310,000 left.
Even if his opponent, Jim Holt, is flat broke, that represents a lead of only $310,000 and that is not from people around the state that are committed to Bill Halter for Lt. Governor. That is simply Halter puffing himself up with money from his own pockets.
It is shocking how few Arkansans have donated to the Halter campaign. Just before the primary we had someone count it up. Halter had only twenty-five Arkansans on his donor list. Only nine of those - nine!- were from outside of Little Rock!
To say his support is thin is perhaps the political understatment of the year. He lives out of state for twenty-five years, lands his jet on the tarmac, hops out and says, "It's great to be back, I'm ready to be in charge now". That normally does not play in small towns where folks referred to people who moved to their town ten years ago as "those outsiders".
Blanche Lincoln SPENT 6.7 million dollars against Holt. That is twenty times what Halter has, and Holt is stronger now than he was then and it goes without saying that Halter is much, much weaker than Lincoln. There is no way that $310,000 is going to assure Halter the job. He has to hope that political donors fall for his "million dollar" story and decide he is inevitable. If they do that, he has to figure he can wring some cash out of them.
It could backfire. The smart money will know out what is going on. They won't give huge sums based on a loan. That leaves only the very partisan types who hate Holt. They may actually be lulled into complacency by Halter's puffing and decide to help other candidates thinking that Halter has it won.
In the meantime, lots of ordinary Arkansans will take umbrage at a guy who flies in from California and tries to buy the election from his own pockets, without any real support from the people of the state. This is especially true when one considers how Halter got that money he is throwing around.
Halter has been on the board of directors of a number of companies. He has gotten well on compensation and stock options from those companies. But the only one of those companies to make money is the one whose servers were loaded with porn and online gambling service material. In fact, they even used college servers to store that material.
The other companies Halter was associated with lost big money. Their investers got "taken", but apparently not before Halter and friends "cashed out". It looks like one of those deals where the insiders made money and the small investors who trusted them lost money. There are a lot of traditional democratic voters who will not pull the lever for Bill Halter.
Now this does not mean to say that Holt has got it won either. He needs to get out of NWA and win those hearts and minds. The point is that Halter is attempting to look as formidible as possible in an attempt to get support for himself and disenhearten the opposition. He is doing it by puffing up far beyond his real size, just like the fish.
How much money does Jesus Jim have?
only people who were in a run-off had to file a report, so we don;t know.
Does it have to be "Jesus Jim". Slighting a politican or a fish is one thing, but Jesus?
He lives out of state for twenty-five years, lands his jet on the tarmac, hops out and says, "It's great to be back, I'm ready to be in charge now". That normally does not play in small towns where folks referred to people who moved to their town ten years ago as "those outsiders".
Liberals are easy- just ask New York voters (ala Hillary Clinton).
$310,000 is a lot of money when your opponent has $0. Soon you will once again see Halter's name all over TV, and the race will be over. Holt won on name-recognition. Halter's money and commercials will enable him to take that away from Holt.
Rob Star, why don't you keep your smart comments to yourself. You are just showing what a idiot that you really are. No one cares what you think with an attitude like yours. Please keep it clean...
It took Halter $700,000 to secure the Democratic nomination. The General election is a lot harder to build name recognition in than a primary. How is Halter going to match Holt's years of earned media with $310,000 spread over the whole state? It will barely be more than background noise. The Governors will be throwing millions around.
He already built name recognition, and might I add, he is leading in the polls despite Holt's "years of earned media". He'll have the money he needs because the Democrats will make sure of it, and Holt will struggle with his few thousand dollars because Repubs are not good at donating.
...Repubs are not good at donating.
How the heck does one get "good at donating?" I think it's merely a matter of special interests knowing that they'll get their money's worth with the good old boys in the Democrat party; in Arkansas, there's just not too many "players" in the Republican party (yet).
Until KTHV says otherwise, it appears that the poll you refer to was taken almost entirely in the second district. Yeah, Halter is "winning" in the second district. Any Democrat would be.
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