Two of the Republican candidates seeking Democrat Harry Mitchell’s seat in the U.S. House are running largely self-funded campaigns.

Former Maricopa County treasurer David Schweikert has raised $681,000, but Schweikert himself contributed $272,000 of that total, according to figures compiled by The Center for Responsive Politics.

Meanwhile, former lobbyist Jim Ogsbury has raised $427,000, but he has chipped in $250,000 of that total.

OK. Now flash back to 2006 when Democratic challenger and shopping mall developer Jim Pederson self-funded most of his unsuccessful campaign against Republican Jon Kyl for the U.S. Senate. The Democrats like to explain that Pederson’s self-funded campaign proved that he couldn’t be bought. Republicans countered that it showed that he couldn’t muster any support.

This year, the opposite is happening – the Republican challengers are self-funding their campaigns. So does that mean Democrats believe Schweikert and Ogsbury are men of such integrity that they can’t be bought? Do Republicans accept the notion that Schweikert and Ogsbury simply can’t find any support?

Don’t bank on it.

In related matters, Mitchell has raised $1.4 million, but hasn’t spent a dime of his own money on the campaign. Republican Laura Knaperek, a former state representative, raised $100,000 without any self-funding. And fellow Republican Mark Anderson, a current state representative, raised $55,000, all from outside sources.

They’re vying for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, which takes in Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee Foothills and a slice of west Mesa.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 pm and is filed under CD 5 race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.