Last September we thought it interesting that Texas District 11 Representative Mike Conaway was having a wine tasting fundraiser given his reelection was a certainty. See Chardonnay, Merlot or Cabernet? The Mike Conaway fundraiser. Even more interesting was the location, Washington, DC, given the 1,300 mile trip Texas District 11 voters would have had to make to attend.
OpenSecrets.org was reporting that up to that time Representative Conaway had raised $846,574 for the 2010 campaign against Democrat James Quillian who OpenSecrets said had raised $5,560.
Now OpenSecrets says Mr. Conaway raised a total of $1,045,296 as of October 13, 2010. Therefore, between those two reports he drew in $198,722. That wine sure must have packed a whallop.
Mr. Conaway won reelection in November with 125,354 votes, 80.84% of the total. Source. And a back of the envelope calculation tells us that Mr. Conaway raised $8.34 for each vote he got.
Mr. Conaway really didn't need all that money for the campaign, but when people and PACs want to pour money on a politician there's no turning them away. Only time will tell whether they got their money's worth.
Well, I hope he at least served Texas wines ... we have a wonderful selection from which to choose, including several right here, in our part of the state.
Posted by: Jeff | November 23, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Jeff, I wasn't there, but I believe the invitation said they would be serving Texas wines.
You are right about the wonderful selections. I happen to like Texas wines. But I'm easy to please, so that's not a great endorsement.
Posted by: Geo | November 23, 2010 at 05:45 PM