Money, money, money

Who has what resources is becoming a constant refrain in the governor's race. The Sacramento Bee has a great graph today (see below) on who is being given what and by whom. In the flurry of campaign finance stories following this week's filing deadline, many focused on the growing gap between the money Phil Angelides has raised versus Steve Westly. The Chronicle read: The campaign financial reports released Wednesday were grim reading for state Treasurer Phil Angelides, the leader in the polls. Although he has a substantial $14.5 million in the bank, that's still $8.5 million less than the $23 million state Controller Steve Westly had on tap as of March 17, the closing day for the reports. The actual gap is somewhat less because Westly's report showed $1.6 million in unpaid bills. But the Angelides camp has taken issue with the $23 million figure. Here's what a recent memo to reporters said: Steve Westly lists himself as the Controller on the ballot, but on Wednesday, Westly used Arthur Andersen-style press releases and told reporters that he had $23 million in the bank. On Wednesday night, countless political observers spent hours clicking the refresh button, waiting for Steve Westly’s campaign finance report to appear online. When the report finally appeared (at 11:07 PM), we all learned that the Westly campaign is guilty of Bush-style fuzzy math. In reality, Westly has nearly $1.7 million in unpaid bills, a fact that his campaign conveniently ignored in an effort to artificially inflate his cash-on-hand total. The late night report also confirmed that Steve Westly has burned through every penny he has raised so far and is now relying solely on his personal fortune to fund his campaign. In any case, here's that Sac Bee graphic: