Pingree leader in campaign funding Half of latest donors for Dem from away

AUGUSTA – Fundraising front-runner Chellie Pingree built on her financial lead in the race for the Democratic nomination in Maine’s 1st Congressional District in the latest quarter, reaching a level of $474,000 last month for her campaign to date, according to a disclosure statement released Monday.

The campaign for Pingree, a former state Senate majority leader and past national president of Common Cause, announced it had raised more than $244,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30.

Well over half of the most recent Pingree donors were from out of state, a sign of “the way people see her as a national leader,” Pingree campaign finance chairwoman Jackie Potter said.

“It’s a big help,” added Potter, who pegged the Pingree campaign’s cash on hand at about $300,000.

York County District Attorney Mark Lawrence, a former state Senate president, released a report with $54,771 coming in from July through September, bringing his total of campaign contributions to $225,762. The campaign reported having $132,330 on hand.

In his first filing since formally declaring his congressional candidacy on Sept. 27, state Sen. Ethan Strimling of Portland reported total contributions of just over $224,000, a little less than Pingree had raised through June.

Much of Strimling’s total came in during the several months that he maintained an exploratory committee.

“I think it’s great,” said Strimling campaign chair Corey Hascall, noting the similarity between Strimling’s filing this week and Pingree’s previous report. The Strimling campaign reported cash on hand of $159,492.

Adam Cote, a Portland lawyer whose resume includes serving with the Army Reserves in Bosnia and with Maine’s 133rd Engineer Battalion in Iraq, reported raising more than $96,000 in the latest quarter, putting his contribution total at more than $209,000 with about $154,000 in cash on hand.

Another Democratic hopeful and former state Senate majority leader, Michael Brennan of Portland, brought in $46,840 during the quarter, according to his report. That put Brennan’s campaign total contributions at nearly $110,000, with almost $73,000 on hand.

On the Republican side Monday, the 1st District campaign of former state legislator and past regional chief of the Small Business Administration Charlie Summers, who is serving in the military in Iraq, reported raising more than $60,000.

The former state senator, who is stationed in Baghdad on active duty as a Navy Reserve lieutenant commander, is being represented on the campaign trail by his wife, Ruth Summers.

“While Charlie serves the nation in Iraq, Maine people are stepping forward with the personal contributions – large and small – to help fuel his campaign for Congress,” she said in a statement.

Earlier this month, another 1st District Republican hopeful, businessman Dean Scontras of Eliot, said his campaign had received about $92,000 in contributions from July 12 to Sept. 30.

“This is my first time out, and with no prior fundraising list and no base of support from a previous campaign, our early progress has exceeded my expectations,” Scontras said in a statement.

The candidates are running for the seat being vacated by six-term Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, who is trying to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins in Maine’s 2008 U.S. Senate election.

Pingree, who is from the island of North Haven, unsuccessfully challenged Collins for the Senate in 2002, while Lawrence, who lives in South Berwick, lost a Senate contest to Republican Olympia Snowe in 2000.

Summers, who lives in Scarborough, unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004, when he was the Republican nominee, and in 1994, when he lost in a Republican primary.