SCHOENEMAN EDGES BLAIS IN SEPTEMBER DONORS

Western Fairfax has been home to a slugfest between challengers Brian Schoeneman and Dianne Blais. In the last reports, Blais outraised Schoeneman- which sparked a huge controversy on which challenger (Blais is vs. Tim Hugo and Schoeneman is vs. David Bulova) had the best chance to win.

This reporting period (covering all of September), Schoeneman made a big statement by having more donors than Blais. The numbers:

Brian Schoeneman: 12 Individual donors

Dianne Blais: 10 Individual donors

It will be interesting to see who emerges from this battle of challengers on top.

Comments

[NotJohnSMosby]

Where's the big pot of money that Brian was supposed to receive? Is the check still in the mail?

[Not Larry Sabato]

He got it- look on his report. He just had almost no one else contribute to him.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

We raised 81,000 in September. David raised 33,000. We have 70,000 cash on hand, David has 72,000.

I've been focusing on voter contact, not fundraising, and it doesn't show on VPAP how many doors we've knocked or any other metrics.

In terms of money, however, we are right where we need to be to be competitive. This is a top tier race, and I'm still beating Diane, too.

[Gopper]

Hmmmm...You'll win the "meaningless posts on blogs prize", too.

Too bad about the election, though.

[NotJohnSMosby]

So Brian, out of the many thousands - 17,000 or so - of voters you'll need to vote for you next month, only a dozen thought enough to give you even a few bucks?

Where is this groundswell of support you're claiming to have?

[JLT]

$75,000 of that $81,000 came from Speaker Howell's PAC. Grassroots campaigning at its finest!

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

I'm a Republican. With the economy the way it is, and the number of families hurting, I'm not about to ask every single person who is supporting me to open their wallets. I'd rather they keep more of what they earn. I can get money from other sources.

Neither David nor I are getting the majority of our campaign funds from individuals in the district.

You'll see the groundswell of support on election day, NJSM. Those are the only numbers that really matter.

[NotJohnSMosby]

Bullshit Brian, absolute bullshit. You're running in Fairfax, not Galax. If you can't find 100 people in your district to give you $25 each, you have absolutely zero chance of beating Bulova.

[Just another HD 37 voter]

newsflash: This is not going to be a close race. Zero doors, zero volunteers and zero small contributors.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Think what you want, NJSM. Instead of spending my time trying to squeeze money from voters, I've been knocking on their doors and talking to them. The campaign has knocked on over seven thousand doors, most of those were done by me personally, and we've had folks out almost every weekend canvassing.

David and I have run into each other plenty of times while we've been out knocking doors - ask him.

I know that you guys want to pretend that this race isn't in play for whatever reason, but it is. We wouldn't have gotten the kind of help we've gotten if this race wasn't winnable.

But, by all means, continue assuming you all have nothing to worry about.

[NotJohnSMosby]

Hey, as long as it doesn't take time away from your blogging, you can believe whatever you want to believe. Just show me any candidate anywhere who has won an election with no funding support from within the district he or she is running for. Especially against an incumbent.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

NJSM, this is the first time I've posted on a blog in months. You want to pretend that I'm just a blogger, but the folks in my district know better.

You guys said I couldn't pass the bar either. Your track record for prognosticating my success is pretty bad.

The real question should be why David has so few contributions from folks in the district, considering he's lived here his entire life and has represented the area for 6 years. Shouldn't he be blowing me away in fundraising?

Bottom line is this district is winnable and we're fighting every day to win it. Please keep underestimating me and the campaign.

[Ralph]

Per VPAP, David seems to have about 50 individual donors from Fairfax City and Centreville zip codes. That would be about 40 more than you.

[Anthony Bedell]

Brian,

Stop wasting time posting on this blog go campaign please. Thank you.

[a student of internet comedy]

^ best fake handle ever?

[Not Larry Sabato]

That comment came from Anthony's IP, so I think that was really him!

[Greg]

Brian,
How about you stop blogging and make a goddamn fundraising call? With all due respect, "we're focusing on grassroots" is what losers say. Donors demonstrate support. BTW, I'm a Republican!

[North Face Denali Jackets]

I found your this post while searching for some related information on blog search…Its a good post..keep posting and update the information.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Thanks for all the advice, folks. I'm out campaigning and knocking doors every day. I'm out making fundraising calls every day. I'm out doing community events almost every day. We just raised another $6100 at an event I held last night and David and I squared off at a Civic Association meeting last night as well.

In terms of fundraising, the bottom line is simple: we have as much money in the bank as David does, and we'll continue raising until the end of the campaign. Money is money and it spends the same, regardless of how it is collected. If some folks want to say we're not doing it the right way, that's fine. But the story last month was "he's got no money." Now the story has changed, but the goalpost has changed.

That's fine - that's politics.

If posting a handful of comments at 10:00 at night (or 7 AM) is blogging, you guys must have been ignoring what I did for two years. I'm not blogging. I haven't been since June. I came here to set the record straight.

[Dan]

Brian, I know the last thing you want is another piece of unsolicited advice, but ignoring this post would have been the right call for you. The post was meant to be amusing while slamming your fundraising but it is inconsequential and it is hardly something that needs to be addressed. Votes are not going to turn on this.

I imagine you are pretty tired about now and feeling the rigors of the campaign. A good time to think an extra minute before hitting the send button. Stuff like this you ignore.

Thank you again for running. The health and success of our system is dependent on good and decent people putting themselves forward and making the sacrifice to run for office. Without that, the field is abandoned to those whose motivations are questionable and those of lesser ability and the truly nutty.

Do your thing and, win or lose, leave it all on the field.

[SMH]

I am still SHOCKED that the candidate has time to monitor the blogs and to respond to a meaningless blog post 3 TIMES! Maybe if we post something about Radle, he will chime in too. Talk about vanity and ego on full display. (He posted even after being reprimanded by his Chairman) If by some miracle this candidate wins, will he (as a delegate) take the time to respond to every negative blog post? He needs to develop a tougher political skin.

If you have time to troll and respond to blogs, you are NOT campaigning hard enough.

[Stephen Spiker]

I think its been pretty well established that you don't need to post anything about Radle for him to chime in.

As a blogger, I'm sure Brian finds value in being responsive and open-minded. I know that I've always appreciated it when elected officials and candidates respond to blog posts I've made. More than that, thought, I'm confused as to what kind of constituent service do you have in mind for a Delegate to do at 10:00 at night or 7:00 in the morning?

[Tom Brady]

BWS has no money, no campaign skills, and no chance...let's see, has the Gov given him $26K like Comstock received, or $10K like Ramadan received? No- RPV, Phil Cox, and FCRC knows he has no chance. Let him keep blogging...

[GLou]

This thread has officially jumped the shark. Troll city....

[Union Bug]

Brian, as it was pointed out above, if you can't ask people in your community to support you financially, then plan on losing election night. Also, you claim to be a Republican, but you work for a Union and your literature has the Union stamp. You claim to be knocking on doors, but from what i hear you have been studying and taking the Bar exam and doing everything but campaigning. I would venture a guess that the doors you claim to have knocked on were done by others and not you. Frankly, if you have time to blog then you are not running a smart campaign. Also, the reason Republican donors won't give you money is because they don't believe you are a Republican or that you will support the business community if they had elected you. The fact this clown running against Tim Hugo outraised you say's it all. Can you play the piano? Maybe you should play for money.

[Chapstick on the Keyboard]

Why would Republicans nominate this yahoo? I am a hard Republican living in the 37th District and I am shocked that they would nominate a pro-union, pro-choice Republican?

As was pointed out above, the fact this bozo running against Tim Hugo almost out raised Brian speaks volumes.

[Union Bug]

Brian, Where do you stand on Republican issues like card check? Would you support raising taxes? Have you signed the tax pledge? How much money have you received from unions v. business community - no counting the Speaker's money either. Will you be out knocking doors tonight? If so, where? We'd like to see it for ourselves. This race pitts two Democrats against each other.

[Tom Brady]

Union Bug, you got it.. he's no Rep- that's why the party has shown no support- money shows true support- he has received none from those who 'count' in his party. It's over for this fraud Rep. Two dems against each other, and the stronger one is the incumbent. Game over. Blog on BWS- it's all you got.

[NotJohnSMosby]

I reiterate my hypothesis that the only reason Brian got $75k from the central slush fund was to help pick up some votes against Marsden and Peterson in the Senate races - and as a fuck-you to Sharon Bulova as well. He may not get many more votes for himself, but he can pick up a few for the Republican Senate candidates.

[Stephen Spiker]

Maybe Brian is crazy like a fox and comments in this thread because he knows it'll bring out the multitude of fake handles made by Dem volunteers posing as Republicans.

Their trolling would be slightly more effective if their claims were even close to resembling reality. Brian has raised $111K thus far (including a hefty check from the Speaker's PAC), while Blais has raised $7,445.

NotJohn, why would the Speaker care about the Marsden and Petersen races, or especially Sharon Bulova?

Bob McDonnell won this district by 1,000 votes, and David Bulova hasn't ran a campaign since 2005. And he's running in a new half of a district that neither he nor his mother used to represent. You honestly think its surprising that Schoeneman would be competitive? You may dismiss him as blithely as you dismiss any other Republican politician, but there's no serious reason to believe he can't win, and your partisan posturing posing as prognostication is pretty damn stale at this point.

[JLT]

Chap's impending landslide in most of the district is probably going to mean more than McDonnell's performance from two years ago.

Also, a candidate spending his time defending himself in the comment sections of blogs is not the sign of a strong campaign.

[Union Bug]

Brian's money came from the Speaker. From what I hear he has had real trouble raising money. The fact he said above he's not hitting up people for money confirms this. Brian has spent to much time doing everything but campaigning. Has nayone really seen him out doing hte leg work. I've seen some so-called volunteers, but not him. Has anyone asked where he stands on the issues? How is it you put a union label on Republican lit? I am puzzled how this party could not recruit a strongre Rep. candidate. There was a shot to win this seat. Not that he would have to take such a vote, but it would be interesting to see if Brian would come out publicly and clearly state he opposes any kid of card check or anything that would alter VA's right to work status. Brian's lack of business support should have sent a message to him and the party early on that they needed a better candidate. It was a winable seat with a true Republican.

[Chapstick on the Keyboard]

Let's not forget this little post Brian made a few months ago:

http://www.novacommonsense.com/2011/03/10/in-wisconsin-the-war-is-just-beginning/

[GLou]

Wow, the Democrat trolls are working hard on this thread to depress turnout for this race. Fun to watch. Keep up the fight schoeneman. You must be doing something right to get all these trolls worked up.

[Dan]

Are they Democratic trolls or are they simply Republicans who are, unfortunately, quite representative of what the Republican party has become? In a party that views organized labor as if their only knowledge of it comes from watching the movie On The Waterfront over and over it shouldn't surprise anyone that a candidate who doesn't express the bizarrely extreme anti-labor views typical of the Republican Party would be labeled a RINO.

Brian is a reasonable and level headed sort. It is his misfortune that he is a member of a political party that has gone totally nuts of late. Perhaps Brian and people like him will be able to restore some degree of sanity to his party. The country could use a sane conservative political party.

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