WurfWhile

[Update, Christine Cegelis’ blog says she had over 1,000 small donors this past quarter - and online donations came in to the tune of over $9,000 in less than 24 hours to exceed her $100,000 goal. Read more below.]

It appears that Christine Cegelis, who received 44.2% of the vote against incumbent Congressman Henry Hyde for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District in 2004, has exceeded her goal of raising “100K by Independence Day” and will file for more than $100,000 raised at the critical June 30th federal campaign filing tonight. This show of early fundraising strength, in an open seat race because of Henry Hyde’s pending retirement, is important for the Cegelis campaign. With at least 30% of the money (and likely much more) coming from donors donating an average of under $72, it shows Christine has maintained her campaign apparatus and grassroots strength from the last election. In addition to an established volunteer structure, Christine’s campaign is benefitting from more paid staffers than her last run - two critical components for successful campaigns.

Christine Cegelis’ fundraising success comes at a critical time for her campaign. Despite the press (and pundits including me) seeing Cegelis as the front runner, she faces a tougher Democratic primary this year compared to her victory over Democrat Tom Berry last election. While only Wheaton Democrat Peter O’Malley, an administrative law judge for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission who previously ran for DuPage County Board, has announced his entry into the primary, DuPage County Democratic Chair Gayl Ferraro has heard that as many as three others may be interested in the race including Wheaton College Professor Lindy Scott, an associate professor of Spanish and Latin American studies and Director of the college’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics, and Mount Prospect political veteran Brian McPartlin, who is the current Chief of Administration for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. Of the two, Scott has expressed an intent to run and McPartlin is just expressing interest, for now.

Dr. Lindy Scott, a popular professor at Wheaton College (2000 Teacher of the Year), would presumably draw his greatest strength from extensive Latin American and particularly Mexican connections, from students (both he and his wife are local college professors) and from evangelical protestants, particularly those who are against the current war in Iraq, where Scott has taken a public stance in a recent book he co-authored, “Terrorism and the War in Iraq: A Christian Word from Latin America,” and in recent lectures based on the book. In a Congressional District that is 12.5% Latino, with close to a fifth of residents foreign born and a significant number of evangelical Christians, Scott might attract notice, but it is much less clear that he has the organizational strength, funding or name recognition to reach beyond his base to win a Democratic primary.

Presumably Brian McPartlin’s political connections in Chicago, Springfield and Washington, D.C. would make him a serious contender, and the Democratic Congressional Candidate Committee is said to have expressed interest in having him run. In addition to his current position at the Tollway Authority, McPartlin’s Illinois experience includes a recent run for Cook County Commissioner in 2002. In the early 1990s he worked as a Deputy Cook County Assessor, and McPartlin’s resume includes prior work in the offices of both the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Secretary of State. In Washington, D.C. McPartlin served in the Clinton White House as Regional Representative for the U.S. Education Secretary in the Midwest, was Associate Director of Presidential Advance for the president, vice president and first lady and was the lead advance staffer in the first transition team. Clearly, should he run, Brian McPartlin would have significant organizational and funding strength.

[Editor Note: It seems fair for me to state here that I supported Christine in her last congressional run and favor her currently. I did put a call in this afternoon to Peter O’Malley’s campaign, speaking with someone “live” on the other end, asking her about his own fundraising numbers, reaction to Cegelis’ and/or anything else he might want to discuss (with the explanation I was running a blog story on the Cegelis fundraising). As of now I haven’t heard anything back from his campaign.]