Ryan's war chest leads House candidates nationwide
Janesville Republican Paul Ryan has the biggest campaign war chest - $5.4 million - of any House candidate in the country, according to midyear election filings.
And he's among the top five U.S. House candidates nationally in money raised during the current two-year election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics:
•Ohio Republican John Boehner: $18.2 million
•Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann: $14.8 million
•Florida Republican Allen West: $10 million
•Virginia Republican Eric Cantor: $6.3 million
•Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan: $4.2 million
In addition to the $4.2 million he raised for his own campaign, Ryan also raised $4.3 million in 2011-'12 for his political action committee, Prosperity PAC. And he helped the Republican National Committee raise $21 million as head of a party fundraising effort known as the Presidential Trust.
Ryan's fundraising history has tracked his rise as a national figure, which has tracked his use of the budget chairmanship to influence the national fiscal debate and shape his party's message on taxes and spending. In Ryan's first five House campaigns (1997 through 2006), he raised an average of about $1.3 million per election. For his 2010 campaign, he raised $3.8 million. For this campaign, he is on pace to exceed $5 million.
Ryan's fundraising prowess sets him apart from his Wisconsin colleagues. The $4.2 million Ryan raised in 2011 and the first half of 2012 is more than double what any other Wisconsin House candidate raised, and 10 times what GOP colleague Jim Sensenbrenner raised in the same period.
Like Gov. Scott Walker, Ryan is a Wisconsin Republican whose lighting-rod role in the national debate has made him a magnet for conservative donors across the country. Ryan has donors from all 50 states in this election cycle, and has more than $100,000 in contributions from Illinois, Florida and California each. (The state that has the fewest Ryan contributors? Vermont, with five). The same attributes that make Ryan a good fundraiser - his national popularity with the conservative base and business community - are selling points for him in the "veepstakes," Mitt Romney's secretive search for a running mate, which could end at any moment.
Ryan is generally seen as a serious, but still dark horse, candidate - on a short list, but not among the two or three most likely possibilities. The controversy over the GOP budgets Ryan authored makes him a potentially risky choice; his ability to excite the Republican base makes him an attractive one.
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Who is attracted to him? Don't the people in Janesville LIKE their Social Security and Medicare? I know the area took a huge hit a few years back when one of the major auto companies pulled out. So why support someone who wants to take whatever safety net left to you away???
As always, I'm happy to see Conservatives so able to throw LARGE sums of money at scum bags like Paul Ryan and John Boehner. That is probably WHY they can't afford any money for schools, infrastructure, safety forces, the social safety net ...
