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Updated: Sink raised $1.05 million in Q4, McCollum crows over Sink

Posted Jan 6, 2010 by Catherine Whittenburg, Tallahassee bureau

Updated Jan 6, 2010 at 08:17 PM

Attorney General Bill McCollum’s campaign was quick this afternoon to throw barbs at CFO Alex Sink, once the the Democratic gubernatorial candidate released her fourth-quarter fundraising total of $1.05 million.

That’s down from her tally of $1.6 million for the prior quarter, and well shy of the $1.4 million that McCollum, the leading GOP candidate, says he raised in Q4.

Here’s what McCollum’s campaign manager, Matt Williams, had to say about that in a just-released statement: “Following yesterday’s announcement that Bill McCollum raised nearly $1.4 million for his campaign in the fourth quarter, Alex Sink announced a surprisingly weak fundraising quarter totaling barely one million dollars. It is clear that her refusal to take a position on important issues affecting Floridians is negatively impacting her ability to raise money and negatively impacting her faltering campaign.” 

Sink outraised McCollum by more than $600,000 in the third quarter, however, and ends the year with a larger total tally—just over $5 million, which exceeds MCCollum’s year-end tally of $3.3 million.

Sink’s total includes $1.1 million she raised to run for re-election as CFO, prior to jumping in to the governor’s race. The Democrat has $4.32 million cash on-hand; McCollum has not yet released those details.

No word yet on fundraising from state Sen. Paula Dockery, McCollum’s rival in the GOP primary.

Here’s an excerpt from the Sink campaign’s latest release, which makes no mention of McCollum:

“‘This is a huge milestone for Alex Sink and shows the excitement her campaign has generated over the last year,’ said Sink campaign manager Paul Dunn. ‘No Democratic campaign for Governor has ever had these kinds of resources this early on in an election cycle, proving what a strong position our campaign is in going into 2010.’

“Sink’s fourth quarter contributions came from 3,688 contributors who gave an average of $164 to her gubernatorial campaign and her online donations totaled over $140,000.”