Despite Carter’s fundraising success, Deal still has resources to tap

The surprising news last week that challenger Jason Carter raised more money than Gov. Nathan Deal in recent months has Democrats optimistic about their chances in November.

But Carter may still be at a distinct financial disadvantage as the race heads into the fall.

Governors seeking re-election can count on a deep well of contributors to draw from who have interest in state legislation and funding. Big corporate donors, from Georgia Power to national conservative megafunders Koch Industries, have already written checks to help bankroll Republican Party efforts. Money to support the governor will come from a state political action committee that has yet to file a disclosure report.

The Republican Governors Association, which is breaking fundraising records, is already running ads against Carter. It has spent almost $1.5 million in Georgia, mostly on TV advertising. Democrats expect outside political organizations to spend even more in coming months. And state lawmakers — traditionally heavy funders of gubernatorial re-election campaigns — have yet to weigh in big-time.

“There are a lot of other entities out there to fund races, so you shouldn’t just look at the campaigns themselves,” said Eric Tanenblatt, who served as chief of staff to Gov. Sonny Perdue and helped raise $17 million to $18 million in Georgia for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. “You have to look at the entire picture; you can’t just take a snapshot of this (fundraising) quarter.”

Former state House Republican Leader Jerry Keen said, “(Deal) is going to have more than enough cash to run a successful re-election campaign.”

But state Democrats have had little to crow about since the Republicans started their takeover of state government in 2002. Carter’s fundraising performance proved an emotional lift for party activists, whose spirits had already been buoyed by polls showing a close race between Deal and the challenger.

And because Carter is seen as having a shot in November, deep-pocketed Democratic groups and donors from across the country will continue aiding his effort. The report his campaign filed last week showed it has hired a firm founded by top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod for media consulting.

“We are going to be very competitive this fall,” said Senate Minority Whip Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta. “This is wonderful and unexpected for Democrats to be in this position.”

Unlike Carter, Deal had to run a primary campaign, winning easily on May 20 but using energy and money. His campaign said he spent time before the primary raising money for other Republican causes, and it showed.

Deal's campaign released a report Tuesday showing it raised $1.3 million between April and June, with $2.6 million in cash on hand in the four months ahead of the November contest. Carter raised more than $2 million in the same time frame and has $1.8 million in the bank.

By comparison, Perdue had $9 million in his campaign account as of the end of June 2006, when he was running for re-election — more than three times what Deal has banked.

Carter is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, and his famous name and national contacts helped him raise big money outside Georgia. Donors over the past few months include actress Kate Capshaw, $2,500; her husband, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, $2,500; film studio executive and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, $12,600; television writer and producer and liberal activist Norman Lear, $10,000; and George Soros, super-donor to Democratic and liberal causes across the country, $6,300.

Carter also reported receiving more than $80,000 from unions — traditionally major Democratic donors — including $12,600 from the Teamsters.

Deal, meanwhile, has relied heavily on the type of donors who have traditionally given big to incumbent governors, groups such as highway contractors and car dealers.

The state Republican Party had similar big-money donors. Aflac, Delta Air Lines, Georgia Power and Koch Industries all gave $50,000 or more in the most recent quarter.

One group with lots of campaign cash that has yet to give in a big way is Republican lawmakers.

In 2006, the state GOP spent almost $14 million, much of it on advertising to boost Perdue. About $3 million of that came from lawmakers, who funneled money from statehouse interests through their campaigns and political action committees to the party. The state GOP wound up outspending the Democratic Party that year by about a 4-to-1 margin.

Perdue was Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, and Tanenblatt said it was important during the re-election campaign “to show that the Republican Party was going to be the majority party for a long time.”

“His re-election helped to further institutionalize the Republican majority in Georgia.”

State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, the treasurer of the Georgia House Republican Trust, said his chamber’s leaders have been concentrating on protecting GOP House members, not on the governor’s race. The trust had more than $660,000 in the bank as of the end of June, with most of its money coming from statehouse lobbyists, associations and businesses with interest in legislation.

Peake doesn’t expect the trust to put big money into Deal’s campaign, and unlike in 2006, there hasn’t been a big organized push to get House members to write megachecks to the party. Still, Peake said he’ll donate to the cause.

“I will do everything in my power to help Governor Deal get re-elected,” Peake said. “He’s got a great track record to run on.”

If they choose to get involved, Republican lawmakers have the money to make a difference. Many are sitting on loaded war chests, such as Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, R-Duluth, $863,000; outgoing Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, $641,000; and House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who had to spend a bundle beating back a primary challenge but is a solid fundraiser and has $351,000.

Democratic lawmakers have raised far less, just as the Democratic Governors Association nationally has raised much less than its Republican counterparts.

State Democratic Party Chairman DuBose Porter, formerly a longtime lawmaker, said he always expected the state GOP and outside groups such as the Republican Governors Association to play a big role in helping to promote Deal’s re-election. Democrats have been badly outspent in most state races for more than a decade, so it’s nothing new.

But he said the fact that the RGA has already spent $1.5 million in Georgia also says something about the race: “It tells you how worried they are.”