Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), who has been in a face-off with his national party leadership and has openly accused them of trying to force him into retirement, told local reporters back home that his fundraising for this past quarter has been “lousy.”
Remember that Bunning, who only won by 51%-49% in the very Republican year of 2004 and could be in a tough race again, has said that his fundraising has been sabotaged by his party leadership spreading rumors that he might retire, along with a possible primary challenge from state Senate President David Williams. Bunning has also singled out his co-Senator, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for continuing to raise money for himself even though he was just re-elected and Bunning is approaching his next race.
On the bright side, Bunning said the fundraising pace has picked up just recently: “Maybe I finally have convinced everybody, in spite of my leadership, that I am running.”
The most recent FEC filings showed Bunning with only $149,991.09 cash on hand as of December 31, 2008. We’ll find out soon enough what he has now.