When Governor Strickland issued his statement to the press about his fundraising numbers for the Pre-Primary campaign finance report, he tried to pull a fast one on Ohio’s Fourth Estate.
Rather than issuing a statement about what he filed in this most recent report, he attempted to include contributions he reported in his previous report as well.
At first, the Dayton Daily News, via the AP, fell for it. They wrote:
By JULIE CARR SMYTH, The Associated Press Updated 4:09 PM Thursday, April 22, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The two leading candidates for governor have a combined $12 million in the bank as they head into what promises to be an expensive fall campaign.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, reported more than $7.12 million cash on hand after raising more than $3 million in new donations since the beginning of the year. Former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, his Republican rival, reported raising more than $2 million during the same period. He now has $5.2 million in the bank.
But it wasn’t the same period. Kasich was reporting contributions from his Pre-Primary report. Strickland was reporting contributions from well before that.
In reality, John Kasich’s first reported contribution for the Pre-Primary came on January 25th.
Ted Strickland’s first reported contribution came on January 29th.
At the end of the Pre-Primary, Kasich had outraised Strickland by a ratio of 4:3.
Fortunately, the Dayton Daily News fixed the story. The new version, timestamped at 6:41pm, now reads:
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, reported more than $7.12 million cash on hand after raising nearly $1.5 million in new donations for the first quarter of the year.
I can’t imagine the Fourth Estate takes too kindly to being messed with, Governor.
