Chan Lowe: Allen West, star fundraiser
My colleague, political writer Tony Man, has a story in today’s paper about how freshman Congressman Allen West raised a whopping $1.9 million in the last three months, ranking him as one of the top national fundraisers. He now has a total of $4.1 million in his reelection kitty, swamping his two Democratic challengers.
I would guess that only a small fraction of West’s war chest was generated in the district he represents, Florida 22 (I would say “home district,” but by now must of us know that would be a misnomer). Rep. West has done an excellent job of burnishing a national profile as one of the tea party’s most valiant foot soldiers, and as such he enjoys a broad financial base.
One has to wonder, at a practical level, how much advantage this mountainous sum will accord him. After all, just about everyone in his district knows who he is, and he is such a polarizing figure that his constituents have probably made up their minds about whether or not they’re going to vote for him without even knowing who is challenger is going to be.
As an employee of a media organization, I hope that West will decide to play it safe and use his stash to buy plenty of self-aggrandizing ads in my newspaper and elsewhere. It might be a wise move, anyway, because even with all that money, his reelection is not a sure thing. Dist. 22 is one of the few truly split congressional districts left in this country.
I suggest that Rep. West would have a better chance of being a shoo-in if he were to abandon his reelection plans and run for Bill Nelson’s U.S. Senate seat. Florida as a whole is more Republican than West’s district.
But nobody from the West camp is asking me, and for good reason. I’m just looking forward to the first time he tells challenger Lois Frankel "You're no lady" in a debate. He'd better bring along his corner man.
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CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
He is doing an excellent job and will be reelected . The only sad thing about the next election is that the district was not combined with Wasserman-Schultz's district as that would have been a campaign for all of our entertainment!
Posted by: banger | October 13, 2011 6:41 PM
Chan,
As long as Soros is the biggest democrat contributor I wouldn't make too many waves from who West got his money.
Posted by: Santorian | October 13, 2011 6:43 PM
How low can Lowe go?
Posted by: Jack G | October 14, 2011 10:48 AM
GO WEST!!! As we saw in the "Weiner" district, it's not about Democrat or Republican... It's about what is right and what is insane.. Obama would love it if West got re-elected, this way he has another source to place his blame. I mean how many different people did he blame for the economy already.... Bush, The quake in Japan, Congress, the "not so shovel ready projects", Rich people, China, tea party.......... He needs to be more like Clinton and stop blaming people and start bringing people together.. BOY I HOPE HE LOSES!!
Posted by: Brian | October 14, 2011 11:57 AM