Crowley Political Report

Allen West spends a lot, Patrick Murphy and Lois Frankel spend less

Gonna be a good year for campaign consultants. A Crowley Political Report look at the Federal Election Commission reports filed by Allen West, Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy show that the three congressional candidates have already spent nearly $2.9 million.

Yup. $2.9 million by the end of September.

The biggest spender is Republican incumbent Allen West at $2.26 million.  Democrat political newbie Patrick Murphy spent $381,000.  Meanwhile Democrat Lois Frankel spent $223,000.

Check out the details yourself from the FEC reports shown below.

Allen West piles up the cash, should Democrats just surrender now?

Good lord? Really? Crowley Political Report does not shock easily but Florida Republican Congressman Allen West raised a stunning amount of campaign cash during the three months ending Sept. 30.

$1.9 million.  Yup. $1.9 million.

Consider this - Democratic U.S.  Sen. Bill Nelson raised nearly $2 million. Let's call it a tie.

There are two Democrats hoping to win West's District 22 seat - former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel and Broward County businessman Patrick Murphy.

Frankel says she raised $415,000. Murphy raised $313,000. That would be a combined $728,000 for the two Democrats compared to West's $1.9 million.

Should Frankel and Murphy just go home?

Frankel has raised a total of $1.1 million since starting her campaign. Murphy has raised $1.2 million.

West has raised  $3.9 million.

Fun with math - Two Democrats total - $2.3 million. West - $3.9 million.

Fun fact - Much of the money Frankel and Murphy raised will have to be spent in the Democratic primary. West does not have, and is not like to have, a serious primary opponent.

Nope, West is just going to keep raking in the dough. A few more million for West and the DCCC may take West off their target list.

No matter how much Democrats would like to get that seat back, Frankel and Murphy are going to need a whole lot more cash to pull it off.

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Art by Chicago artist and graphic designer Brian J. Crowley

Lois Frankel takes a cheap shot at Allen West

Democrat Lois Frankel is calling Republican Allen West a "woman hater."

This is nonsense but coming from Frankel, not surprising.

After the dust-up between West and Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, where the freshman Republican went  too far in his reaction to comments made by Wasserman Schultz on the House floor, Frankel decided to turn it to her advantage by creating a website dubbed WestHatesWomen.

It is a cheap shot.

Frankel hopes to defeat West in the 2012 election. First, she must get past Patrick Murphy who also is a candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Frankel has a long history of running nasty campaigns. Read more about that here.

The WestHatesWomen site features a petition demanding that West apologize for berating Wasserman Schultz.

"This man has a problem with women. Demand an apology. And, demand he donate $1,000 to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence to show he's serious!"

Frankel, who can make a Marine blush, has done her share of berating people.

There is not a single issue that Frankel and West will agree upon. There are plenty of issues that they can fiercely debate.

And while West's behavior was disturbing because it was out-of-proportion to the act that caused it, there is no evidence that West hates women.

Political newcomer is making race for Allen West's seat interesting

Who in the world is Patrick Murphy?

Surely that has to be a question that Democrat Lois Frankel is asking this week. Murphy is a 28-year old newcomer to Florida politics who is challenging Frankel, a political veteran, for the Democratic nomination in the 22nd congressional district now held by Republican Allen West.

Murphy's campaign tells Crowley Political Report, that the candidate raised $450,000 in the last quarter. Murphy raised $350,ooo during March bringing his total to $800,000. We should note that $30,000 of that total Murphy gave to himself. Still $770,000 from contributers is impressive.

This is not good news for Frankel who has not yet revealed what she raised during the three-month period ending June 30. In March, Frankel raised $254,000 and there is no reason to believe that she did not have a good quarter.

If Frankel had hoped to walk away with the nomination, the former state representative and West Palm Beach mayor may find the road a bit rockier than expected.

Murphy, who was a Republican not long ago, was born in the Keys and lives in Broward County. He is vice president of Coastal Environmental Services. His campaign team includes South Florida Democratic operatives Jeff Garcia and Eric Johnson.

One of the most interesting aspects of this and all congressional seats is that no one knows what the district will look like in 2012. The Florida Legislature will begin seriously redrawing the districts in January with the final lines not completed until late February. And there will be legal challenges that will leave the lines in doubt until mid-summer.

Democrats in Washington must be looking at the West seat with some concern. Enormously popular with GOP conservatives and Tea Party activists, West will have no trouble raising money. Democrats will need to invest heavily to defeat West and a bloody primary is not going to be helpful.

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