Its About Who's Not There

The News-Sentinel did a piece on the war chests for both Republican mayoral candidates. The only contention I have with the piece is the importance that Kathleen Quilligan put on the donations by Randy Borror, Paula Hughes, and Cal Miller. While all are highly visible none of them are really considered a must have for a campaign's financial health.

She also mentioned David Long's presence on the report. This is a slightly different situation than the previously mentioned officials. Long's name in the report isn't important. But he is considered the gatekeeper for Richard Freeland, owner of the local Pizza Hut chain. Usually Long and Freeland are found in tandem on campaign finance reports. This time there was no mention of Freeland.

I took a closer look at both campaigns and found that neither have any of the big hitters or key individuals. Though I have heard rumors that two of the major players have taken sides this side of the new year. These rumors are that Peters has the support of Ken Neumeister and Kelty has John Popp's backing.

My guess is that the big hitters will wait to see if either candidate can make this a landslide and jump on the bandwagon of the leader. The other option is that they will wait out the primary and back the winner.