Koster Is King of Money . . .Not of Filing

DONNELLY CATCHES KOSTER'S APRIL CONTRIBUTIONS

"Bad Sign For Anyone Running For Chief Law Officer"

Donnelly Spokesman Calls From Fundraiser: "If it's a clerical error, he still broke the law."

While Just $113 Bucks Separate Her & Harris

Attorney General's Race: KOSTER IS MONEY KING

Chris Koster (D): Raised $384,137 this quarter, received $226,247 in other contributions. That's a $610,384 dollar haul. He reports $1 million on hand.

Margaret Donnelly (D): Raised $161,571 this quarter, received $2,432 in other contributions. She reports $631,441 on hand.

Jeff Harris (D): Raised $161,684 this quarter, received $655 in other contributions. He reports $460,120 on hand.

Mike Gibbons (R): Raised $158,247 this quarter, reporting $440,321 cash on hand.

Parsing the spin: Koster is the undisputed money leader. Where he gets it is another argument, but his huge financial edge will allow him to be up on TV early and often. In fact, his campaign has already announced its set aside and earmarked $225,650 for TV ads. "It's a down payment for later on in the campaign," said Koster spokesperson Rebecca Kirszner. Late in the day, as the campaign perused his finance report, Donnelly swiped Koster for making mistakes in his 1st quarter filing. "It appears the candidate for Attorney General needs to brush up on Missouri's Ethics Law or on the Gregorian calendar," Donnelly blasted.

Koster reported that 11 contributions totaling $78,875 were received in the month of April, which is the first month of the 2nd quarter. "Bad sign for anyone running for chief law officer," the e-mail said.

"The law is that you have to know about the contribution by midnight March 31st for it to count in that quarter. It might be a clerical error, but if it's a clerical error, he still broke the law," said Donnelly spokesperson Patrick Lynn.

The campaign then lists the contributions in question:
4-01-08 Newton County Democratic Central Committee $13,450 monetary
4-01-08 Newton County Democratic Central Committee $13,450 in-kind
4-02-08 Timothy R. Wolf $250 monetary
4-03-08 Catheryn Brooks $25 monetary
4-04-08 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas O'Driscoll $200 monetary
4-06-08 Jamie Hunt $200 monetary
4-08-08 52nd District Legislative Democratic Committee $10,450 in-kind
4-11-08 23rd Senatorial District Legislative Committee $13,450 in-kind
4-11-08 18th District Legislative Committee $13,450 in-kind
4-11-08 17th District Legislative Committee $13,450 in-kind
4-11-08 Rouse Hendricks German May PC $500 monetary

Take away Koster's $78 grand, and he still easily tops the other two. But that's not the point. The point is to take away the headline that Koster won the moneyrace, and note an error.

On Koster's money haul, Lynn said: "My suspicion is the $400,000 he was forced to return last quarter came back to him through legislative committees this quarter."

A Koster spokeswoman did not immediately returned a phone call for comment.

Donnelly notes that she's "a lifelong Democrat" and the first woman to run for Attorney General. But she seemed to battle Harris dollar-for-dollar this quarter. Just $113 dollars separated Harris and Donnelly's monetary donations over the past three months, though she holds more on hand. Donnelly notes 1,559 donors over the last quarter, 92% of them being from Missouri. Harris claims donors from 66 counties, including 579 contributions during the first quarter. He also notes that he's not loaned any money to his campaign, whereas both Donnelly and Koster have.