The money train is rolling through Massachusetts these days.
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren announced Monday an impressive fundraising haul of $6.9 million, more than double the total raised by Republican Sen. Scott Brown over the same period."The incredible enthusiasm we have seen from people across the Commonwealth who are contributing to this campaign shows the strong grassroots momentum behind Elizabeth's fight for middle class families," Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers said in a statement.
The $6.9 million total applies to money raised between January and March 2012-- fundraising reports are due to the Federal Election Commission by April 15. Brown announced last week his campaign raised $3.4 million over the same period.
Yet despite the influx of donations that have filled Elizabeth Warren’s coffers since January, the Brown campaign claims their war chest totals about $15 million, or $4 million more than his presumptive Democratic challenger. On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren has outraised the incumbent Bay State Senator for three straight quarters, proving once again that she can raise enormous amounts of money in a relatively short period of time.
Even so, this brings up an important question: where is all this cash coming from? The Boston Globe provides a clue:
About 64 percent of Warren's donations came from out of state. The campaign had previously said Warren received $2.5 million from in-state donors during the three-month period ending March 31.Brown's campaign hasn't said how much of the $3.4 million it raised came from in-state donors.
Warren's campaign said 30,000 people from 350 Massachusetts communities have contributed to her campaign. The campaign also said 83 percent of first-quarter donations were $50 or less.
Last month, the New York Times reported that nearly 20 percent of Elizabeth Warren’s itemized donations last quarter – contributions totaling $200 or more -- trickled in from California. Shocking. Then again, perhaps it’s not all that surprising that celebrities in Hollywood are actively trying to defeat a popular incumbent Republican (a lawmaker who sits in the same U.S. Senate seat once held by the late Edward M. Kennedy) in a deeply blue state. Still, Warren’s popularity among Hollywood’s rich and famous could pose significant problems for her campaign in the months ahead, especially as Team Brown redoubles their efforts to paint the former consumer advocate as an out-of-touch elitist and hypocrite.
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