Burris is as lame a duck if there ever was one...

[WCGreen]

One of the first major hurdles that a serious candidate for any office, especially a statewide office, is to show that you have a base. The only way to show that you have any kind of significant base is to raise money from a wide segment of the population.

It seems to me, coming from someone on the far sidelines, it looks like Sen. Burris is waiting for the political equivalent of Godot. It also looks as if he will have to wait on that park bench for a very long time.

Burris hasn't even made an effort to raise money. In his first Senate report, Burris shows he has raised $ 845.00. He did manage to accumulate $ 111,031 in campaign debt to various consultants. Not a good place to be at this moment.

On the other hand, State Treasurer Alexander Giannoulias has raised $ 1,139,101 from 744 various contributors. AG has a $ 1,123,007. Burris has more debt than AG has in the bank.

Now this is a base that any political candidate would envy. remember, that's $ 1.1 million in a three month period over a year before the primary.

No GOP candidate is even close in Illinois.

Take a look at how this plays out in my State, Ohio, where long time Incumbent George Voinovich has decided not to rum.

On the democrats side, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher has raised $ 1,017,147 from 707 individuals. His closest challenger, SOS Jennifer Brunner has raised $ 197,185 from 187 individuals.

Clearly, Fisher has the upper hand and is viewed by more donors as the legitimate candidate, someone who went right out to prove he had a base on which to build upon.

The GOP candidate, US Rep Portman, has raised $ 1,517,093 from 841 individuals. A very solid base and, on top of that, he was able to transfer $ 1,417,213 from his existing House Campaign fund.

I included all of this as a stark snapshot on how underwater Burris really is. Obviously he is waiting, patiently, it seems, for someone, anyone to do the work of fund raising for him.

In other words, he is not a serious candidate for election to the US Senate.

[havocmom]

1. Mebbe he just wanted to add "US Senator" to that fancy tombstone?