The Political Money Chase Race

(Chuck Muth) – The first primary will be held this coming week – the Money Primary.

Candidates for state and federal offices will be reporting on just how much money they have raised (and still have in the bank) to compete for the Vote Primary this coming June. Here are the key races to watch:

Jim Gibbons: The governor – as we witnessed this week – doesn’t need anywhere NEAR as much money to “campaign” as his opponents because he can command news attention pretty much at the snap of his fingers. So I’d venture to say that if he shows even a modest sum of $200,000 in the bank, he’s a player in the primary even if Brian Sandoval shows close to a million.

Mike Montandon: He’s been running for governor for over a year now. If he doesn’t show at least a quarter mil in the bank I don’t know how he competes in the GOP primary. Sandoval has the money and the establishment support. And Gibbons has the power of incumbency and probably the earned loyalty of much of the party’s conservative base. What’s left is table scraps unless Mayor Mike has the money to change the game somehow down the stretch.

Danny Tarkanian: His fundraising numbers last quarter were rather impressive; however, that was with the help of Hugh Hewitt’s national call to donate “Ten Bucks for Tark” from his radio listeners and before Sue Lowden got into the race. If Tark doesn’t report having raised $500,000 or more, he’s probably in deep doo-doo.

Sue Lowden: This will be Lowden’s first report since entering the race last October 1st. If she shows having raised at least half a mil during that short span of time, especially if Tark’s haul is less than impressive, look for more and more money which has been sitting on the fence to begin flowing in her direction.

John Chachas: There’s isn’t a single person I’ve talked to who has talked to Chachas who hasn’t said he’s an extremely impressive fellow. He’s already put up a million dollars of his own money for his campaign and showed raising another $400,000 or so in the last quarter. Don’t be surprised if he shows raising another $250,000-500,000 this quarter. If so, and if Tark’s numbers don’t impress, the race for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination could very quickly go from Lowden vs. Tarkanian to Lowden vs. Chachas. Which will also pit the state’s two foremost GOP political consultants against each other, Robert Uithoven vs. Ryan Erwin.

Joe Heck: Haven’t heard much from the Heck campaign since he switched from a gubernatorial run to the congressional race against Dina Titus last September. But that could be a good thing. If that means the man has been out aggressively raising money and shows $300,000 or $400,000 in the bank, the nomination will pretty much be in bag and Titus will perceived as even MORE vulnerable – which begets even more money.

Mike Wiley and Nathan Taylor: Will the two of these gadflies combined show more money raised than the average monthly mortgage payment? I can hardly wait.