Brunner fundraising flops again; Ohio Senate candidate has $112k on hand

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (D) continues to be plagued by insufficient fundraising in her Senate campaign and actually saw her receipts declined between a lackluster second quarter and the third quarter.

Brunner’s latest fundraising report will only increase questions about whether she will provide any formidable challenge to Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the Democratic primary. At this point, she simply doesn’t have the money to do so.

Her third quarter report, which her campaign declined to discuss even after it had filed, shows Brunner raised less than $150,000 in the third quarter, spent $200,000 and has just $112,000 cash on hand.

Despite the obvious fundraising woes, Brunner said last week she would push forward with her campaign. But she recently replaced several members of her finance staff and looks to be in even more trouble than she was before. Political observers will undoubtedly begin the death watch for her campaign in short order.

Ohio's primary is relatively early -- in May -- and that leaves Brunner with less and less time to build a decent war chest.

Brunner raised $228,000 in the second quarter and $207,000 in the first quarter, with both performances getting panned by political observers.

Fisher also saw his fundraising drop off in the third quarter. But after raising a respectable, if underwhelming, $620,000 for the quarter, he has now raised more than $2.5 million for the campaign and has $1.6 million on hand.

The GOP frontrunner, former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), has raised nearly $5 million and has $5.1 million on hand. He also transferred money from his House committee to his Senate campaign when he announced his candidacy.