TX SEN: Noriega Bests Watts In Fundraising For Quarter

State Rep. Rick Noriega (D-Houston) has bested millionaire Mikal Watts in fund-raising for the third quarter reporting period in the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate from Texas:

Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega raised more from individuals over three months than his possible rival for the party’s U.S. Senate nomination, campaign reports filed Monday show.

Well, well, well. It seems as though all of that alleged “grassroots support” Mikal Watts claims to have captured across Texas doesn’t amount to much money.

The DMN reports this on the individual contributions:

Noriega raised about $508,000 from individuals, not including refunded contributions, for next year’s elections. Watts pulled in about $443,000, Federal Election Commission reports showed.

That doesn’t begin to tell the whole story, though. If you look at reports for both candidates, Noriega raised even more–$570,000–if you count contributions from political action committees and not just individuals.

Watts, however, appears to have tried his damnedest to boost his total to at least tie Noriega’s $570,000 reported earlier this month. Watts’ total of $570 includes about $127,000 that Watts donated his own campaign (as opposed to loaning his campaign). It looks almost like Watts tried to pour in some of his own endless supply of cash at the last minute in hopes of besting Noriega–something he still wasn’t able to accomplish.

It makes one wonder if Watts just quickly backdated a check on October 1 for the amount he needed to get close to the number announced in Noriega’s press release that day.

The Hill didn’t look too closely at the numbers, though, as they report Noriega and Watts in a dead heat for the quarter.

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