Via Dick Howe, the Lowell Sun today has the first quarter fundraising numbers from the race to replace Marty Meehan (D-Lowell) in the fifth district. The Sun managed to contact six of the seven Democrats running in the primary, and four of them have already raised in the six-figures. Here are the approximate amounts as provided to the Sun:
| Eileen Donoghue | $400,000 |
| Nikki Tsongas | $325,000 |
| Barry Finegold | $310,000 |
| Jamie Eldridge | $105,000 |
| James Miceli | Unknown |
| James DiPaola | $0 |
| David O'Brien | $0 |
Note that neither Sheriff James DiPaola or David O'Brien did any fundraising in the first quarter, and Rep James Miceli was unavailable for comment to Sun. What would be interesting to find out, would be the number of donors each candidate has. Councilwoman Eileen Donoghue, the article notes, loaned an unspecified amount to her campaign, greater than $2300 but not exceeding $350,000. If she loaned an amount in the upper range, it might be possible for her to have fewer actual donors than Rep. Jamie Eldridge, who claims to have a large number of small donors.
Like the presidential numbers, the official first quarter fundraising totals are due to the FEC by mid-April. If Rep. Miceli has raised any money for the race, the public will be able to find out then. At that point, too, the amount that Councilwoman Donoghue donated to her own campaign will also be known. I do understand, however, why her campaign is being cagey about the exact amount since she gets the good press now for having the most money without her self-loan being an asterisk. Likely they'll release that that information some Friday afternoon, or not at all.
As an aside, another article in the Sun about the race ended with this line:
The election is expected to cost the state $625,000, Galvin said.If only there was someone with a large sum of money that he could no longer spend on himself. Does anyone know anybody like that?
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