The Politico reports that Republicans inside and outside Virginia are less than enthusiastic about Jim Gilmore’s campaign for Virginia Senate:
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore has barely begun his campaign for the Senate, but it’s almost impossible to find anyone in statewide Republican circles — outside of his closest allies — who thinks he can actually win.
Despite having a résumé that most candidates would die for — former governor, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, president of a homeland security think tank and briefly a presidential candidate — Gilmore has become the laughingstock of this year’s crop of GOP Senate recruits.
He’s been consistently trailing his Democratic opponent, Mark Warner, who succeeded him as governor, in most public polls by well over 20 points — even though he is running in a state that has voted Republican at the presidential level since 1964.
“It would take a major mistake on Warner’s part to give Gilmore a chance here,” said Cook Political Report Senate analyst Jennifer Duffy, who called Gilmore’s chances of winning miniscule. “The only way he’d win is if Warner has a major misstep, and he’s way too disciplined to have a macaca moment.”
Translation — people don’t like to back losers.
And it’s showing up in the fundraising:
Gilmore’s fundraising numbers have been anemic. He ended June with just $117,000 in his campaign account, a number dwarfed by Warner’s $5.1 million cash on hand. Gilmore’s paltry total is not even close to the amount of money necessary to get his message out in the expensive television markets of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Tidewater.
Gilmore raised just $480,000 in the second quarter of fundraising — a total surpassed even by many House candidates who don’t have to raise as much money to be viable.
As I noted back in June, the National Republican Senatorial Committee was close to giving up on the Virginia race and concentrating on races where their money might actually do some good. It seems Republicans in the rest of the country are starting to do the same.
Barring a major game changer, which seems unlikely, this race is pretty much over folks.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
That’s the spirit!
July 24th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Keep it up! I love this blog because it’s not in the tank for any candidate but tells it like it is!
July 28th, 2008 at 7:04 am
[...] Below the Beltway says They’re Not Wild About Jim, Gilmore That Is. [...]