Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., Raises No Money in First Quarter of 2011

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) reported no fundraising activity in the first quarter of this year.

But he loaned his campaign account $1 million late last year, which was seen as a sign that he’ll run for a fifth term.

Kohl, who hasn’t officially announced his 2012 intentions, didn’t raise any cash during the first three months of the year, nor did he loan his account any additional funds. Kohl, who owns the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, has the ability to self-fund.

The Wisconsin Democrat did spend $42,000 on polling during the first quarter, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission. Kohl spent just more than $51,000 during the first three months of 2011 and reported $953,000 cash on hand.

That’s right: during a three-month stretch in which his home state of Wisconsin was Ground Zero of the national political conversation – with emotions running high over Scott Walker’s battle with the unions, with progressive and union activists pouring money into a previously sleepy judicial election, while on the GOP side Paul Ryan increasing elevated himself to a national figure setting a budget agenda the President is merely following – Senator Kohl didn’t report receiving a single political donation. Not a penny, not a dime, not a pfennig. Nobody in the entire state looked at this landscape and thought, “hey, I should show my support to an incumbent Democratic Senator up for re-election next year.”

One has to assume that Kohl isn’t running, and that he’ll clear the field for Russ Feingold to try to recover his old job. (Whether Ryan is interested in that job is another day’s story). If he is running, well, you can see for yourself what enthusiasm he generates.