The mayoral campaign news is coming fast n' furious today, on the eve of the filing deadline for the first round of campaign financial disclosures. Madeline Rogero's form reports a solid $44,214 in donations from 268 supporters--a lot more than Ivan Harmon, but less than half of what Mark Padgett has raised. In an accompanying press release, Rogero professes little concern about any fundraising gap at this stage of the campaign. Citing her 2003 run against Bill Haslam, she says, "At the same time seven years ago, we had raised $10,385 from 55 individuals, and Bill Haslam had close to $300,000. By the end of the campaign, over 1,300 people had contributed more than $160,000, and we had narrowed the funding gap to 4 to 1."
Rogero's strength has been presumed to be in her grass-roots organizing, and she does have more individual contributors than either Padgett (185) or Harmon (just 20). The shoe yet to drop is the report of Councilwoman Marilyn Roddy, who has been campaigning longer and harder than anybody, and has had a number of monied names on her host committee lists.
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