Fewer donors contributing to Gilmore, reports show

The national Republican Party and thousands of individuals who opened their checkbooks to support Jim Gilmore when he was elected governor a decade ago are now watching their money more closely as Gilmore fights an uphill battle for a U.S. Senate seat.

GOP groups including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which in 1997 gave Gilmore more than $1.1 million, have not contributed to his current bid, according to records filed in July with the Federal Election Commission. Gilmore received another $1.1 million from other national Republican sources when he ran for governor, but has not received their help this year.

And more than 2,500 individuals who gave at least $200 each to Gilmore in 1997 also are either inactive or giving less, according to a Virginian-Pilot analysis of campaign finance reports. Their contributions then totaled nearly $3.4 million, more than one-fourth of Gilmore's treasury.

Gilmore could use that kind of money now, as he seeks to close a double-digit gap in public opinion polls in his Senate contest with Democrat Mark Warner, also a former governor.

As of June 30, Warner had collected more than $9.1 million and was sitting on a $5.1 million war chest, according to campaign finance reports. Gilmore had raised just over $1.1 million and had just $117,000 in the bank.

Gilmore said his totals have picked up considerably since then. He now claims more than 6,100 donors, but his campaign declined to disclose their contributions.

The candidates are not required to detail their finances again until mid-October.

Gilmore and his top aides said they never expected to match the fundraising of Warner, whose personal worth has been estimated at as much as $200 million. "Our experience is you've got to be careful about a snowball fight with a guy that owns a snowmaking machine," said Dick Leggitt, a top Gilmore strategist.

Warner has donated $4,600 to his campaign so far, campaign finance records indicate.

As of his June report, Gilmore had made no contributions to his campaign; his $50,000 loan to the campaign was repaid on June 5. Gilmore has left open the possibility that he'll invest more of his own money. A personal disclosure report he filed last year listed assets valued at $3.4 million to $14.2 million.

Leggitt said a substantial number of Gilmore's 1997 donors have died or dropped out of politics during the 11 years between Gilmore's gubernatorial bid and his current campaign.

He added that Gilmore has a history as a late-blooming candidate and is slow to attract donations from party organizations and political action groups wary of investing in candidates who seem unlikely to win.

None of the national Republican committees that funneled money to Gilmore in 1997 made donations until the final weeks of the campaign, as Gilmore surged in the polls, according to campaign finance records.

Leggitt said Gilmore never expected substantial help this year from the GOP senatorial committee, which he said is focusing on protecting incumbents. He is confident that substantial donations will come from the Republican National Committee - Gilmore is its former national chairman - as well as the state party, he added.

Still, Leggitt acknowledged that Warner's financial advantages have been a major factor in shaping Gilmore's campaign tactics. "We didn't believe we could sustain a nine-month campaign with Mark Warner with all his resources," Leggitt said.

Instead, the GOP nominee spent the summer in relative obscurity, husbanding his cash for a nine-week push this fall that he insists will push him to victory.

Warner, meanwhile, has seemed at times to be running almost as an incumbent. The Democrat did an early round of television advertising, delivered a high-profile keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention last month and announced that he'll face Gilmore in only two debates before Election Day.

Warner has collected more than $1.2 million from political action committees, many affiliated with business groups that typically back Republicans and avoid candidates who are considered long shots. Gilmore's receipts from such groups totaled $144,000 as of June 30.

Gilmore has made a low-budget series of "working families tours" in rural and suburban areas, using them to rally Republican loyalists. He's also honed a campaign slogan - "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" - that dovetails with a national GOP drive for new offshore oil exploration.

Gilmore's summer tours have been built largely around voter-by-voter appeals that recall a time before television advertising and YouTube videos came to dominate political campaigns.

During a late August swing through the Northern Neck for example, the candidate spoke to three crowds of fewer than 20 people each and then walked through drug stores, furniture shops, art galleries and restaurants to snag stray voters.

"We need you to contribute to the campaign. We count every single contribution," he told a group of business people and retirees at a Tappahannock restaurant. "If you contribute today, I'll know tomorrow that we have more contributors. And I'll be very grateful for it."

Pilot writer Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.

Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com