Peter Schorsch
May was a busy month for Andrew Gillum.
Like his opponents, he racked up several key endorsements; former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Senate Democratic Leader-designate Jeff Clemens, Sen. Perry Thurston, state Rep. Joe Abruzzo and Palm Beach County Tax Collector for life, Anne Gannon.
Gillum spoke at Tiger Bay and his campaign sent out numerous press releases on various topics, he held two big-name fundraisers (former party chair Allison Tant and uber-lobbyist Sean Pittman) and blasted out, by my count, more than 18 fundraising emails and literally scores of tweets. He is seemingly all over the state — even today he is in voter-rich Palm County.
Sounds like a candidate in full swing.
But let’s hold on a minute.
Is it possible that during and despite all that activity, Gillum posted a goose egg from his political committee, Forward Florida? (Lots of expenditures but no contributions.)
Click here to see NO MONEY raised during May.
“While Mayor Gillum took time off the trail this month for the birth of his third child, we’re confident that we’ll have the resources to compete all across Florida,” said Geoff Burgan, the communications director for Gillum’s campaign. “We’ve raised more than $1 million from more than 7,000 contributors — by far the most in the Governor’s Race.”
We’d be the last people to ding Gillum for spending time with his family after welcoming a new child, but the idea that he “took time off the trail” doesn’t mesh with the flurry of activity coming out of Gillum’s camp.
Look, all this press is great. He is clearly keeping pace on the endorsement front. Plus, the positions and his assertions on legislation and issues of the day touch right into the heartbeat of his party. And he has plenty of them.
But no money?
Not one single dollar?
If you are running a statewide race and against some formidable opponents, you simply cannot let that happen. Florida is a big state and it takes tens of millions of dollars to reach voters.
And with only 14 months until voters actually start casting ballots, every single month is precious. It’s like putting a lot of people on base but having none of them — not one — touch the only base that really matters: home plate.
Gillum’s fond of saying, “Bring it home.” In fact, it is his campaign slogan.
Bring it home man, or the only scoreboard that really matters will show that you are not in this game.
