Eccentric Covers 9th District Fund Raising

Dollars adding up quickly for 9th House candidates
By Greg Kowalski
Staff writer

In the race for the U.S. 9th House seat, Gary Peters may be winning the battle of the bucks, at least on the Democratic side of the ticket.

On Thursday, Peters announced he "has received more contributions to date than any previous candidate to take on Republican Joe Knollenberg."

Peters said he raised $183,414 last quarter for a total of $401,217.

"Whether it's people I meet at house parties and club meetings or the nearly 1,000 individuals that have contributed to our campaign, every day I see momentum building for our grass-roots campaign," Peters said in a prepared statement.

It isn't clear how much ahead that puts him against rival Democrat Nancy Skinner, who said a tally of donations hasn't been made yet. "I've been getting small donations from around the county," Skinner said. (Skinner ended the quarter with $6700 cash on hand.)

In 2006, when Skinner ran against Knollenberg, she raised a respectable $420,000 during the length of the campaign and came within 15,000 votes of beating the incumbent Knollenberg.

"I have not been out there in full force," Skinner said last week. But she did take comfort in that she placed first in the Democracy for Action Internet poll, which rated her as the leading progressive candidate among 98 Congressional races across the country in a preliminary count.

"Money alone isn't going to do it," Skinner said.

Perhaps. But Knollenberg came up with his own figures, which cannot be taken lightly. He has rased more than $1.4 million in 2007.

"The Knollenberg campaign raised the most money it has since 2002," a Knollenberg campaign statement stated. It was, he noted, "a particularly strong showing for a non-election year, during which time candidates typically raise fewer dollars."

Still, with the primary in August and the general election in November, the campaign money-raising season is still young.