{"id":12119,"date":"2012-10-18T10:35:09","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T16:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=12119"},"modified":"2012-10-18T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T15:41:25","slug":"making-the-money-count-in-idahos-congressional-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/10\/18\/making-the-money-count-in-idahos-congressional-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Making The Money Count In Idaho’s Congressional Races"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Courtesy of the candidates| U.S. Congress<\/p>

Idaho's Congressional candidates, top left Jimmy Farris, Raul Labrador, Nicole LeFavour, Mike Simpson<\/p><\/div>\n

A record amount of money<\/a> is flowing into this year’s election in states across the country. Idaho, it seems, is not one of them.<\/p>\n

Idaho doesn\u2019t have a high-stakes gubernatorial race on the ballot, or a critical senate seat up for grabs.\u00a0 But both of Idaho\u2019s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Idaho’s 1st Congressional District covers the western half of the state<\/a>, from the southern edge to the top of the panhandle.<\/p>\n

There, incumbent Republican Raul Labrador<\/a> has far out-raised his challenger, former NFL football player Jimmy Farris<\/a>, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

The latest campaign finance reports filed with the federal election commission show Labrador has brought in $797,686<\/a> this election cycle, compared to Farris\u2019 $69,993<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What they each have left to spend is equally as disparate; Labrador has $290,984 left in his campaign bank account while Farris has $9,888.<\/p>\n

David Adler directs Boise State\u2019s Andrus Center for Public Policy.\u00a0 He says not only is Farris facing the uphill climb of running against an incumbent, but he hasn\u2019t been able to raise the money needed to gain name recognition across western Idaho.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s unfortunate because when one candidate can so greatly outspend the other, it means the playing field is not level,” says Adler.\u00a0 “And that really deprives voters of their opportunity to size up the two candidates on all the issues.\u201d\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In Idaho\u2019s 2nd Congressional District, that\u2019s Boise and the entire eastern half of the state<\/a>, seven-time incumbent Republican Mike Simpson<\/a> has raised more than $1.1 million.\u00a0 He\u2019s also given away at least $70,000 of that to other Republicans.\u00a0 His challenger, two-term state legislator Nicole LeFavour<\/a> has raised $285,275.<\/p>\n

The gap is wide.\u00a0 But, what they have left to spend on pricey TV and radio ads is far closer.\u00a0 Simpson has $220,062 on hand<\/a>, compared to LeFavour\u2019s $148,552<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adler says that suggests a couple of things.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, Sen. LeFavour has done a very good job of raising money. It shows there\u2019s considerable enthusiasm, financial backing for her candidacy, she\u2019s taken seriously by Democrats and some Independents who are very much attracted to her positions on issues,” Adler says.\u00a0 “On the other hand, it\u2019s also true that Congressman Simpson could raise a lot more money if he needs to.\u201d\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

With 18 days left in the campaign, it\u2019s likely both candidates will make their final push for votes and financial backing to get their message out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A record amount of money is flowing into this year’s election in states across the country. Idaho, it seems, is not one of them. Idaho doesn\u2019t have a high-stakes gubernatorial race on the ballot, or a critical senate seat up for grabs.\u00a0 But both of Idaho\u2019s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":12142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[138,187,89,185,153],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}