Candidates reporting cash raised

U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland has raised $4.1 million for his gubernatorial bid.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
Two candidates running to replace U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland in the 6th Congressional District have raised more than $1.47 million combined in their quests.
State Sen. Charlie Wilson, a St. Clairsville Democrat, has raised $878,429 compared with $599,012 for state Rep. Chuck Blasdel, an East Liverpool Republican, as of Thursday.
Of the amount raised by Wilson's campaign, 58 percent of it, or $507,500, came from the candidate.
In comparison, Blasdel gave $2,100 to his congressional campaign.
Wilson is facing two Democratic candidates in the May 2 primary: Bob Carr of Wellsville and John Stephen Luchansky of Boardman.
Carr and Luchansky acknowledge they probably won't meet the $5,000 minimum amount that requires them to file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.
But unlike Wilson, Carr and Luchansky will have their names listed on the Democratic primary ballot.
Wilson, a multimillionaire, failed to obtain the required 50 valid signatures needed to get his name on the ballot. Because of that, Wilson is running an expensive write-in campaign to win his party's primary.
Committees
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also spending about $161,000 on a radio and television campaign urging voters to write in Wilson's name on the ballot.
Blasdel has relied primarily on political party committees, political action committees and the Ohio Sixth District Victory Committee, a joint committee created by his campaign and the Ohio Republican Party, for his money.
Those committees provided $420,779 to Blasdel's campaign fund, or 70 percent of the money it's raised as of Thursday.
Blasdel is among four candidates running for the Republican nominee in the 12-county 6th District that includes Columbiana and a portion of Mahoning.
The other three didn't file pre-primary reports with the FEC by Thursday's deadline. Previous reports showed the three other candidates had raised about $70,000 combined.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, has raised $427,908 for his re-election campaign, including $125,475 since Jan. 1, as of Thursday. Ryan doesn't have a primary opponent.
Don Manning of Cortland is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary. If Manning receives 50 votes in the primary, he becomes his party's nominee in the November general election.
Strickland's gubernatorial campaign fund continues to be strong. Reports filed Thursday show Strickland, of Lisbon, raised $1.12 million between Jan. 1 and April 12, and he's collected $4.1 million during the past year. Strickland spent $2.12 million between Jan. 1 and April 12 on his campaign and had $1.12 million on hand as of April 12.
That places Strickland, the Democratic front-runner, way ahead of former state Rep. Bryan Flannery of Strongsville, his party primary opponent, in terms of money. In comparison, Flannery's campaign has raised about $135,000 overall, including $47,246 between Jan. 1 and April 12. Flannery's campaign had $85,882 left as of April 12.
GOP side
On the Republican gubernatorial side, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell raised $1.1 million from the beginning of the year to April 12, and $3.7 million overall. Attorney General Jim Petro raised $282,923 between Jan. 1 and April 12, and $4.2 million overall.
But the two Republicans have spent their campaign money almost as quickly as they raised it. As of April 12, Blackwell had $345,761 on hand, and Petro had $257,633.
State Sen. Marc Dann of Liberty, a Democratic attorney general candidate, raised $181,278 between Jan. 1 and April 12 and has collected more than $500,000 toward his campaign overall.
Dann's Democratic primary opponent, Subodh Chandra of Cleveland, raised $58,108 from the beginning of the year to April 12 and about $350,000 overall.
As of April 12, Dann had $142,040 left in his campaign fund, and Chandra had $118,065.
In the Republican attorney general's race, Auditor Betty Montgomery of Perrysburg greatly out-raised state Sen. Timothy Grendell of Chesterland $279,057 to $3,910 between Jan. 1 and April 12. As of that date, Montgomery had $1.61 million sitting in her campaign fund compared with $42,112 for Grendell.
skolnick@vindy.com