Michael Allegretti, the candidate hoping to take on Democratic Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon in the general election, has his work cut out for him in his own GOP primary – his fundraising last quarter was just over a third of his rival’s.
Allegretti, who has been seen as the favored candidate by the National Republian Congressional Committee, raised about $118,000 in the final quarter of 2009, his campaign said today.
That pales in comparison to the $310,000 his GOP rival, former FBI agent Michael Grimm, says he took in during the same quarter. And Grimm didn’t even begin fundraising until November.
Allegretti didn’t actually release his figure – instead he noted he’s raised more than $300,000 overall. But he was fundraising for much of the past year. And while he said he has $236,000 on hand, he is going to need to hang onto it as best he can.
Allegretti campaign manager Ray Riley insisted, “We’re very happy with our numbers. We’re right on track with where we think we need to be in this stage of the game… he doesn’t have the backing of party bosses that are out there doing major fundraising for him.”
Grimm, who was plucked from obscurity by former Borough President Guy Molinari, has been moving aggressively. He doesn’t have “party bosses,” but does have bigwigs – in addition to Molinari, he has a former Vito Fossella adsiver, Michael Hook, along with longtime GOP operative Susan Del Percio, and senior Giuliani adviser Jake Menges.
Menges’ presence signals strongly which way Giuliani’s backing will be heading. The former mayor’s popularity remains very strong on Staten Island.