Today National Republicans added Mark Plaster, a candidate with 50K cash on hand, to its First Tier Young Guns Program. Since Democrat John Sarbanes won his last election with 64% of the vote, many would have assumed that Plaster is a strong fundraiser and smart campaigner. And yet, Plaster spent nearly equal the same amount of funds that he raised last quarter. Plaster raised 157K and spent 100K last quarter, leaving himself with just 56K cash on hand. Ironically, Plaster spent $1,000 on campaign management school for himself and staff – where he clearly didn’t learn responsible campaign spending.
“How did Mark Plaster, a candidate who spent most of his campaign funds in one quarter, make the NRCC program for promising challengers?” said DCCC Spokesman Jermaine House. “Republicans are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel if they are propping up a candidate who is both a weak fundraiser and irresponsible spender in a Democratic district.”