Trauner trumps Lummis in dough

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Wilson resident and Democratic U.S. House candidate Gary Trauner has raised significantly more money than his opponent, Republican Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne.

As of Sept. 30, Trauner had more than $1.3 million in his war chest – a sum that tidily overshadowed Lummis’ $706,000.

This is hardly breaking news, however. What caught our interest this week was an e-mail from an individual representing a local Republican interest, pointing out Trauner’s campaign had collected several times more than his opponent in the way of out-of-state individual contributions. The Trauner campaign – again, as of Sept. 30 – had collected $688,000 in individual contributions from out-of-state, compared to the Lummis campaign, which did not crack the $100,000 mark.
Curious to know why forces outside of Wyoming might be influencing this expected-to-be tight race, Planet JH put in a call to the Trauner campaign for comment.

Adam Ruff, Trauner’s campaign manager, shrugged off any insinuation of out-of-state interests, pointing instead to the more than “2,000 unique” Wyoming donors so far.

“If you want to talk about which message is resonating, it depends on the number of Wyoming donors,” Ruff said.

Those individual Wyoming donors have generated about $310,000 for Trauner. By comparison, Wyoming donors have contributed more than $446,000 for Lummis. A call to the Lummis campaign did not make it immediately clear how many unique individual donations that campaign had garnered in state.
Why was the money flowing from outside Wyoming?

Ruff attributed it to the kind of grassroots interstate network Trauner has built, beginning when he campaigned against incumbent Barbara Cubin in 2006.
“All the money we get is straight from Gary calling people,” said Ruff, who added those individuals sometimes then put forward subsequent calls.

Trauner, who trumpets his claim to be an independent candidate not beholden to his party, has said he has received very nominal financial help from the Democratic National Committee.

University of Wyoming political science professor Dr. Jim King, said there is little unusual about the surplus of funding reaching the Trauner campaign from outside the state, especially as a candidate who has already stepped onto the national political stage when he narrowly lost to Cubin.

“He ran a nearly successful campaign in ‘06,” King said. “Under those circumstances, political party leaders [outside of Wyoming] see him as a viable candidate.” PJH
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Trauner trumps Lummis in dough | Planet JH News Article: General Politics

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