Reed rakes in campaign cash; Norwood pleased with her totals

By Eric Stirgus

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta mayoral candidate Kasim Reed raised close to $1 million in the last four weeks, nearly twice as much money as his campaign rival Mary Norwood, according to records filed Monday with the city clerk's office.

Reed reported collecting $914,826.20 between Oct. 26 and Nov. 25, according to his campaign disclosure report. Norwood reported to the city that she raised $467,329 over the same time period.

The recent fund-raising hauls are a stunning increase over what each candidate raised in the early months of the campaign. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 25, Reed's campaign records show he raised about $160,000 a month. During that same period, Norwood raised about $150,000 a month, according to her campaign disclosure reports.

In all, Reed raised $2.55 million while Norwood raised $1.975 million.

Reed campaign manager Tharon Johnson credited the fund-raising totals to the candidate's message resonating with voters.

"We've worked hard to ensure that we have the necessary resources to communicate our message of change and to turn out our voters on Election Day," Johnson said in a statement. "Our campaign has built real grassroots momentum since the general election and we are confident that we will be victorious [Tuesday]."

Norwood campaign manager Roman Levit said he was pleased with their fund-raising totals. He said about 5,000 people have donated to the candidate.

"When it became clear there would be a runoff, our donors stepped up once again to help Mary cross the final mile," Levit said in an interview.

Reed occasionally traveled outside Georgia to raise money for his campaign, while Norwood focused exclusively on raising money in the Atlanta area to back up her argument that she is the grassroots candidate.

Reed, a partner at Holland & Knight, a law firm with offices in 18 U.S. cities and five other countries, has raised much of his money from fellow attorneys and labor organizations. Norwood has labeled many of Reed's donors "special interests."

Norwood spent more ($566,203.90) over the last 30 days than she raised, the summary page of her disclosure report showed. Norwood had about $161,000 in her campaign chest before Oct. 25.

Levit estimated Norwood spent about $300,000 in recent weeks on television ads. A substantial portion was spent on glossy fliers mailed to voters outlining her campaign platform and criticizing Reed.

"We feel very comfortable that we got done what we needed to get done," Levit said.

Reed's contributions included a $52,500 loan the candidate made to his campaign. He spent $790,761.65 between Oct. 26 and Nov. 25, according to the summary page of his disclosure report.

Both campaigns were required to deliver their disclosures to the city by Monday. Each camp provided the summary pages late Monday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Norwood and Reed were competing with six other candidates for campaign cash before the Nov. 3 general election. The two finalists in Tuesday's runoff election found an easier time raising money with the other candidates out of the race.