Christine O'Donnell Campaign Spending Broke Delaware Records

WASHINGTON — Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell set a state record by spending more than $6.1 million in her losing Senate campaign against Democrat Chris Coons.

Campaign finance data going back to the 1980s compiled by CQ MoneyLine show the next highest tally came in the 2008 cycle when former Sen. Joe Biden, now the vice president, spent $4.9 million.

Delaware elections commissioner Elaine Manlove says she is confident no one has spent more in the state's history.

O'Donnell's fundraising – roughly double Coons' – is remarkable for a longshot candidate who badly trailed throughout the campaign. The tea party favorite was flooded with contributions after she pulled off a stunning primary upset. Endorsements from Sarah Palin and others also helped.

Comments

[GreenKate]

03:42 AM on 12/10/2010

Lunch money. Meg Whitman spent $160 million and where is she now.

[Kiffanik]

02:04 PM on 12/07/2010

And she still lost, good for Delaware. Here in Florida, money actually bought the gubernatorial elections, now people are getting nervous because they realize Rick Scott really did steal from Medicare, and he's got this idea for generating revenue by privatizing the prisons and outsourcing work to them. Of course, that's after he slashes the education budget so he can make sure to continue having a steady stream of slav, I mean prisoners.

[MrsLee]

07:20 PM on 12/06/2010

HOW MUCH DID SHE POCKET FOR HERSELF.... HUMMMMMM

[kinoptikation]

06:28 PM on 12/06/2010

Kokus Pokus and $6.1 million are gone

[me again]

06:05 PM on 12/06/2010

Moronic positions and lack of common sense are two qualities money won't help win elections.

[Harbinger08]

05:57 PM on 12/06/2010

I think the lesson here is that even the most worthless candidate can get over 40% of the vote if you give them enough money. This is a very scary lesson.

[collprof]

05:53 PM on 12/06/2010

Let's do an accounting of every one of the donations to ensure donors have not funded apartments, car payments, trips, clothes, donuts, and latte. This dingbat candidate has a habit of spending funds donated in lieu of using for campaign and how many runs at Senate does this make this?

[Littlewords]

05:39 PM on 12/06/2010

As Christine O'Donnell turns from politics to her new future as one of Americas great literary authors, here are some proposed book titles being considered....

1) Cold Milk from a Witch's Teet
2) My Pet Bat
3) My Political Cauldron Bubbleth Over
4) Spells, Chants, Potions and Campaigns
5) From Nonsense to No Sense, The O'Donnell Campaign
6) My Broom Ride to the Steps of our Capitol
7) While You May Not Like My Book, You'd Like Me Less Representing You in the Senate
8) My Life of Failure, Christine's Story
9) My Bad Ideas and Errant Assertions, a Fold Out Coloring Book by Christine O'Donnell
10) By This Book, Because Sarah Palin Says So!

[Mike Tartaglia]

04:45 PM on 12/06/2010

a pretty face sure goes a long way...

[PolicyWonkette]

04:40 PM on 12/06/2010

Another record she broke -- Most Unqualified Person Ever to Run for Senator in Delaware.

[Francheska]

04:07 PM on 12/06/2010

$6.1 million for Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell is $5.9 million too much...but the laughs she gave were priceless...

[wikwox]

03:30 PM on 12/06/2010

The Tea Party Express has deep pockets, what they did not have was a credible candidate. We knew young Christine for 5 years before she won the primary, they could have bought up all the TV and radio airtime for a month and it would have changed nothing. The real surprise is that she only lost by 16 points.

[Littlewords]

02:28 PM on 12/06/2010

Just how many dollars does it take to elect a witch who once knelt before a blo0d alter and who represents a continued stream of batsh*t cr@ziness?

She is so well aligned to the party of tea...constantly in a self created conflicted state of values, unqualified to speak to real problems but never shies away from the opportunity to do so, is unethical as the day is long, poorly educated and believes those that are well educated are all elitists, wrongly thinks that she is qualified to lead more than a corner bake sale or has a critical voice on any political matter, and has ethical issues and nefarious actions trying to peek out from behind just about every corner of her insignificant and failed political attempts.

[ALfarmgirl]

04:29 PM on 12/06/2010

...& thinks that her story is book worthy. Unfortunately, there are people who will buy it.Perhaps the name of it should be "I was Jobless & Clueless, but only Lost by 16%, God Bless America".

[Littlewords]

02:08 PM on 12/06/2010

...now, with what is left in the campaign trust will, just as in the past, unethically go to be inappropriately allocated to fund Christine's lifestyle.

[liberalandloveit]

12:07 PM on 12/06/2010

Wonder if she is still living illegally off her campaign funds. I guess it beats having a real job.