Senator John Warner Achieves the Impossible: Raises $500 in Q1 2007

Most people, including myself, would have said it could not be done. Make no mistake; Senator Warner is not "most people." Virginia's Senior U.S. Senator reignited speculation that he would not seek a sixth term as he reported a paltry $500 in first-quarter fundraising. Rumor also has it that the FEC closed shop at 2 p.m (no, not really). A reliable source subsequently revealed that Congressman Tom Davis, Warner's would-be GOP successor, raised a hefty $600,000. How is this possible?

"It almost speaks for itself," answered one senior Democratic official, "You have to try to raise only $500[K]. You have to tell people not to give you money, and you have to return checks."

. . . or Senator Warner has been spending too much time at the White House. "If I confirm my decision to seek reelection," he said in a statement released yesterday, "I have every confidence that I will be able to raise sufficient resources and structure an organization to wage a vigorous campaign leading to Election Day in November 2008." As the Senator deliberates, I imagine his staffers are drawing straws for the unenviable task of telling the Senator that his lemonade stand is not "an organization."

In December 2006, I said that Senator Warner will seek a sixth-term; a statement I stand by today. As Larry Sabato noted earlier this month, a sixth-term would make Senator Warner the longest-serving Virginia Senator in history. If Governor Warner were to enter the race, however, a sixth-term is going to require far more lemons than the Senator has on-hand.