Has Tom Harman Already Gone Through Half His Primary Money?

Sometimes getting cute has a price.

Example: Tom Harman.

During Harman’s tough 2006 Special Election, he was hard-pressed to keep up with his opponents’ spending. So, he turned to a creative source, his 2008 campaign account.

Being an incumbent, Harman was able to raise money from all sorts of special interests and spend it from an account theoretically set up for his 2008 Campaign.

It was an unorthodox move. But being that he won by only a few hundred votes, one that ultimately proved necessary. With the odds long that anyone would challenge an incumbent Senator, in hindsight it seemed a very savvy move.

But now that the prospects of a serious challenger are becoming real, having spent $288,000+ (see attached Summary of his 460 filing) out of the $790,000 allowable under the Spending Limits he chose to abide by, that move seems like it could be backfiring. If his burn rate continues just at an average rate through the election, he'll have just $450,000 to spend.

Instead of having to raise even just the limit of $790,000 to match Harman’s spending dollar for dollar, an opponent could easily outspend the incumbent, or even spend only $450,000 to match him dollar-for-dollar.

Right now, Harman is keeping his fingers crossed, hoping no serious challenger materializes. But if one did, from the looks of things, he’d be in real trouble, as he’s already gone through half of the money he’s allowed to spend.