Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is touting her early fundraising success as a way to get more money for her U.S. Senate bid.
Marshall is a veteran of Democratic politics, but so far a front-runner for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr has not emerged.
In a newsletter sent to supporters, Marshall's campaign says she raised $180,000 in the two weeks in September after she filed her federal election paperwork. That gives her enough to pay her campaign expenses through May, according to the memo sent to supporters.
While noting Marshall is on track to meet her fundraising goals, the newsletter notes that 60 percent of primary voters are women and that 75 percent of them will be older than 50. The age statistic that is surely meant to suggest that Marshall, 63, may have more appeal than announced candidate Kenneth Lewis, 48, and possible candidate Cal Cunningham, 36.
That last line of reasoning assumes that people only vote for people who are like themselves. Gov. Beverly Perdue didn't get any special support from women either before or after her election, so that theory may not be totally correct.
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Re: Marshall talks numbers
Marshall's been a good public servant as best I can tell, but I tend to attribute her fundraising success so far to her connections with wealthy individuals that she has gotten to know over the past decade or so in state government. I find it difficult believe she will ever be able to translate fundraising success to a genuine grass-roots campaign in which her vision for the state and country inspires moderate, middle-class voters to contribute and volunteer on her behalf.