http://senate2008guru.blogspot.com/A month ago, I posted on Senator Mary Landrieu appearing to be in better shape than I thought, with her holding a healthy lead against Republican Jay Dardenne and with a couple GOP Congressmen deciding against a Senate challenge. Well, more good news for Landrieu, as her fundraising numbers for the first quarter of 2007 exceeded expectations and broke records:
In the first three months of this year, Landrieu raked in $1,016,556, according to her campaign. With the election still more than a year and a half away, she had nearly $1.8 million in her war chest, tripling her fundraising in the previous quarter and doubling what she raised at this point in the 2002 campaign.
"This is the most successful fundraising quarter we've ever had at this point in an election cycle and even exceeds our own internal goals," said Tina Stoll, Landrieu's finance director.
While I do think that the NRSC will be willing to dump more money into Louisiana than most other states, as they fight to turn at least one Democratic-held seat to GOP hands (something they failed to accomplish in 2006), an increasingly robust Landrieu bankroll can certainly discourage potential challengers. Given that Landrieu is supposed to be the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent, this is more reassuring news.