While the race for Baltimore City mayor has yet to heat up, Mayor Sheila Dixon?s campaign has seen a rush of cash into her warchest. “We just passed the million dollar mark for fundraising,” said Dixon?s campaign manager, Martha McKenna.
The money puts Dixon in an enviable position against opponents with small campaign accounts, pundits say.
“It?s not an insurmountable advantage, but it?s pretty close,” said Matthew Crenson, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. “This is evidence that people who watch politics closely think she?s a winner.”
Richard Vatz, a professor of political rhetoric at Towson University, agreed.
“It?s always better to have more money than less money, although there are all kinds of examples of people who have raised more money for campaigns than their opponents [but] who have lost,” he said.
Dixon?s opponents, all of whom declined to discuss their campaign finances, admitted they were not planning on waging their campaign battles with cash alone.
“I don?t think money actually dictates who wins the campaign,” said candidate Frank Conaway, who is Baltimore City Clerk of the Court. “It?s how you run the campaign.”
Conaway said his goal is to raise $100,000.
He predicted that rising crime and Dixon?s reluctance to fire Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm would hurt her chance of election in the fall.
“She wants to plant flowers, while people are getting their brains blown out,” Conaway said
Andre Bundley, another mayoral contender, said the key to his success will be grass-roots politicking.
“If I can?t directly contact every voter in the city, then someone in my campaign will,” Bundley said. “For the last 30 years, big business has been directing the mayor?s agenda exclusively, while the people are being ignore.”
Others question whether Dixon?s campaign has indeed passed the $1 million threshold.
“I?d like to know where the money is coming from,” said Jason Williams, mayoral campaign manager for City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell. “Can someone verify it? It would be helpful to have more details.
“At the end of the day, the race is going to be won on the ground, not with fundraising.”
