Republican congressional candidate, YouTube celebrity and fund-raising phenom Allen West has raked in more than $2 million in contributions for his challenge of U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. But he’s already spent $977,853 — primarily on a direct-mail campaign with a group of Washington firms.

Reports filed Thursday show West raised $838,445 in the first quarter of 2010 to Klein’s $456,263. It was the second quarter in a row that West out-raised Klein in their nationally watched race. Overall, West has $1.1 million cash on hand while Klein has nearly $2.7 million in the bank.

Democrat Chris Craft’s report shows why he dropped his challenge of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta. Craft raised only $29,909 in the first quarter before announcing his departure March 26.

Rooney raised $200,974 in the quarter and has $579,527 cash on hand. He was outdone during the quarter by his younger brother, Michigan U.S. House hopeful Brian Rooney, who raised $325,041 and has $443,005 on hand for his race up north.

Tags: Allen West, Brian Rooney, Chris Craft

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 8:19 am and is filed under 2010 campaigns, campaign finance, George Bennett, Ron Klein, Tom Rooney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.