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2 Area Congressmen Pass Million-Dollar Mark

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By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Freshman Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, is the second Tampa Bay area congressman to raise at least $1 million for his re-election bid this fall, exceeding $1.05 million.

Bilirakis joins Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, in reaching that fundraising plateau, with Putnam's total now more than $1.35 million.

These new numbers are detailed in the latest campaign committee filings with the Federal Election Commission this week, reflecting fundraising and spending from January 2007 through the end of June.

They show that all five of the Bay area's members of Congress - Putnam, Bilirakis, Democrat Kathy Castor of Tampa, and Republicans Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville and C.W. "Bill" Young of Indian Shores - continue to stock their war chests at rates dwarfing the amounts of the hopefuls seeking to unseat them.

However, the scramble for dollars is a bit different for Bilirakis and his efforts to defend his 9th Congressional District seat.

Bilirakis' money chase comes as one of his potential Democratic challengers, businessman and former Plant City Mayor John Dicks, has so far loaned to his campaign committee $320,000 of his own cash.

In addition, Dicks has raised more than $104,000 in contributions, bringing the combined amount he has collected for his campaign coffers from himself and other sources to $424,000.

Along with the political base that Plant City provides him, Dicks' ability and apparent willingness to dig deep into his own pockets could help make the race potentially the most competitive in the Bay area.

As of June 30, Dicks had more than $323,000 remaining in the bank, about half the $642,000 that Bilirakis had sitting in his campaign accounts.

Before he can focus completely on Bilirakis, however, Dicks must defeat two other Democrats vying for a shot at the congressman in an Aug. 26 primary.

One, Bill Mitchell of Carrollwood, has loaned his campaign $100,000 and has raised $70,000 in contributions. The Navy veteran, who practices unemployment law in Tampa, reported having $139,310 left in the bank.

No financial report to the FEC was available as of Wednesday from the campaign committee of Anita de Palma of Clearwater, the third Democrat in the race and a former Florida director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The FEC does not require a candidate to file a finance report until the campaign has either raised or spent at least $5,000.

Dicks' early dollar numbers have caught the eyes of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's national strategists in Washington. They say they regard his potential square-off with Bilirakis this fall as among their "20 emerging races in the country."

Kyra Jennings, the Southern regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the money Dicks has loaned his campaign is "showing other folks that he is vested in this campaign, and truly committed to the race."

Mitchell's campaign manager, Anne Drake, was unimpressed. She points out that the fundraising numbers since April 1 show that Mitchell and Dicks actually have raised similar amounts from contributors, Mitchell's $12,180 to Dicks' $11,937. She also said local voters aren't swayed by who Democrats in Washington may be favoring.

Nonpartisan political analysts, such as those with The Cook Political Report, say they see the race for the Bilirakis seat as the Bay area's potentially most competitive. Even so, David Wasserman, the Cook expert on House races nationally, still rates the district as "likely" in the Republican incumbent's control. There was no comment Wednesday from Bilirakis.

The unevenness in fundraising between incumbents and challengers in the Bay area's other congressional races is more typical, reflecting the big advantages sitting members of the House have.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

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