O'Donnell Had Almost $1 Million at End of Campaign
Politico reports:
Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell criticized the national GOP for not spending money on her campaign, but the long-shot Senate nominee was sitting on a mountain of cash.
O’Donnell reported having $924, 800 in the bank after the election was over, according to her post-general election campaign fundraising report, filed Thursday.
An underdog GOP nominee turned media darling of the 2010 election cycle, O’Donnell became an overnight sensation when she defeated moderate Rep. Mike Castle for the Republican nomination in September, and some of her outlandish ideas and surprising statements that she had made in the past were unearthed. Public polls showed Castle would have been a shoo-in in the race for that Senate seat, but O’Donnell lost the race to Chris Coons by 16 points on Nov. 2.
After winning the nomination, O’Donnell cried foul several times that national Republicans were not doing enough financially to support her candidacy. In the meantime, however, O’Donnell was raising loads of money on her own — more than $7.3 million over the course of her campaign. She also reported spending $6.1 million on her bid through the end of the reporting period on Nov. 22.
O’Donnell spokesman Matthew Moran said O’Donnell was advised by her attorney to reserve “several hundred thousand dollars” for after Election Day to use for legal challenges resulting from her campaign — such as a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission filed by the state GOP during the primary and a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
