Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has raised $2.27 million in large gifts from Hoosiers, twice as much as President Barack Obama, according to federal campaign-finance data through June 30.
Technically, the Indiana governor’s race is wide open, but some deep-pocketed donors see Democrat John Gregg as a long shot. Gregg tripled his fundraising pace in the second quarter, but much of that was fueled by unions, rather than business groups and executives who’ve supported Democrats in the past.
Reform-minded Superintendent of Public Instruction draws contributions from across the country.
About a third of the money that flowed to Indianapolis mayoral candidates Greg Ballard and Melina Kennedy in the most recent fundraising cycle came from donors not eligible to vote in the election.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy each raised more than $1 million in the most recent seven-month reporting period and are neck-in-neck in the amount of campaign money they have on hand.
Richard Mourdock, the tea party-backed challenger to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, reportedly closed the last federal reporting period with $300,000 in the bank. Lugar has close to $4 million.
Education reformers dramatically outspent opponents on lobbying, advertising and grass-roots campaigning during the past legislative session.
The five lawsuits filed this week do not include the biggest recipients of Tim Durham’s political largesse—campaign committees associated with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.
State Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis said Thursday that contributions of more than $800,000 by Indianapolis businessman Timothy
Durham should be sent to a bankruptcy trustee for Ohio investment firm Fair Finance Co., which was forced into bankruptcy
earlier this year.
Trustee Brian Bash has sent letters to politicians who he says received a total of $900,000 in funds Durham had borrowed
from the coffers of Fair Finance, a now-bankrupt investment firm based in Ohio.
BP's employee political action committee donated nearly $24,000 to Indiana legislative candidates in June, but not everyone
wants to cash the checks after the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
