WDC = Wisconsin Democrat Campaign

Today's press release lacked the 'money is evil' tone that normally is exuded by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Apparently only GOP cash is evil.

Campaign finance reports filed yesterday show that Governor Jim Doyle has a sizable lead in the campaign arms race. Doyle had twice as much cash on hand heading into the election year than one Republican rival, Congressman Mark Green, and more than seven times as much as the other GOP contender, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

Doyle has raised over $2 million more than past Republican governors Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum did at the same stage in their last election campaigns. The $5.9 million Doyle has collected through the end of 2005 is as much as he raised in his entire 2002 bid for governor, and $3.9 million of the $5.9 million he raised for that campaign was brought in during the election year. If he matches that election-year fundraising in 2006, his total fundraising this time around would approach $10 million. More likely, the governor aims to continue his record pace through the election year, making overall fundraising of $11 million to $12 million a distinct possibility.

Some are reading significance into the fact that Doyle raised almost $300,000 less in the second half of 2005 than he did in the first six months of the year. Actually, this dip is consistent with a well-established pattern. Leading up to the 2002 election, McCallum raised half as much in the second half of 2001 as he did in the first half – $906,534 in the last six months of the year compared to $1,890,631 in the first six months. Thompson's first-half fundraising also was greater in the year before his last election. He raised $868,460 in the first six months of 1997 and $851,854 in the second half of that year.

The Doyle campaign spin, in a nutshell. McCabe should report this as an in-kind contribution.