This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 28, 2012 - Dave Spence, Missouri’s Republican nominee for governor, put in another $1 million from his own pocket into his campaign over the weekend – a signal that he’s encouraged by the latest poll numbers that show him trailing Gov. Jay Nixon by single digits.
That’s in addition to $1 million that Spence gave his campaign a week ago. Overall, he has spent $6 million of his own money in his effort to oust Nixon.
Nixon, a Democrat, collected $150,000 over the weekend from various donors each of whom gave $10,000 or more. The largest was $60,000 from the Carpenters union.
Arguably more important, Nixon collected endorsements over the weekend from all of the major newspapers in Missouri.
Today is the deadline for the final batch of campaign-finance reports before the Nov. 6 election; these reports include their smaller donations as well.
Other large donations over the weekend included:
- GOP secretary of state hopeful Shane Schoeller nabbed $200,000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a group that money for GOP down-ballot candidates. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann – the chairman of the Republican secretaries of state committee – toured the state with Schoeller last week.
- Schoeller and Republican attorney general nominee Ed Martin each received $100,000 from David Humprheys, the CEO of the Joplin-based TAMKO. Humphreys emerged as one of the state’s most generous political donors over the last few years, contributing almost exclusively to GOP candidates and causes.
- Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Susan Montee nabbed $25,000 from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who running for re-election. Montee, the former Democratic state auditor, is squaring off against Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.
- The Missouri Bar provided $300,000 to the Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee, a group seeking to stop an amendment altering the Missouri nonpartisan court plan. The Missouri Bar is one of most vocal opponents of efforts to change the plan used to select judges for the Missouri Supreme Court, Missouri Court of Appeals and a handful of urban judgeships.
- The House Republican Campaign Committee gave $200,000 to the Missouri Republican Party.
- Missourians for Equal Credit Opportunity received $414,000 from Missourians for Responsible Government, a nonprofit whose donors are not immediately disclosed. MECO opposed efforts to restrict the payday loan industry, an initiative that didn’t make the ballot.
