By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
If the winner of a congressional race is determined by the size of the war chest, then Cabot Mayor Mickey Darrin “Stubby” Stumbaugh has reason to worry.
Campaign contributions records, which had to be filed by Oct. 15 with the Federal Election Commission, show Stumbaugh is far behind Cong. Marion Berry in money collected for their 1st Con-gressional District race.
Stumbaugh, a Republican, has run his “People before Politics” campaign on just $85,154 in contributions, a fraction of the amount he said he would need to get to Washington.
In contrast, Berry, the Demo-crat who has held the office for 10 years, has amassed $1.2 million — or nearly 15 times what Stum-baugh has raised. The Cabot mayor has received almost nothing from the national Republican congressional campaign or political-action committees.
Most of the money Stumbaugh has collected, $71,996, came from individuals.
Republican committees contributed $3,800, and non-party political action committees gave $6,770. The information about Stumbaugh’s campaign contributions and the campaign contributions of all candidates for national office can be found on the Web site for the Federal Election Commission.
The site contains not only the amounts collected by candidates but also the names and addresses of contributors. For example, Stumbaugh’s contributors included 10 Cabot residents who together gave $5,759 to his campaign. The most generous among his Cabot supporters was Kenneth Williams, who gave $2,000.
Berry’s support was split almost evenly between individuals, who gave $614,530, and PACs, which gave $608,825.
Party contributions added another $10,909 to Berry’s re-election fund, which already contained $171,975 before the campaign started.
Stumbaugh said at the beginning of his campaign that he believed he could win with $500,000 to $750,000.
But Berry said it takes a minimum of $1.1 million to mount a credible campaign.
Stumbaugh started with nothing in August, when he announced his decision to run and had raised $16,462 by Sept. 30. Berry, serving his fifth term in office, started with $171,975 and raised $378,375 by Sept. 30.
Of that amount, $211,100 came from about 130 political action committees and other similar groups and the balance came from individuals.
Federal law requires that candidates report the names of individuals who contribute $200 or more.
So far, 20 individuals meet that requirement for Stumbaugh’s campaign.
Of that number, most contributed $500 to $1,000.
In the 2nd Congressional District, Vic Snyder, the Democratic incumbent, also has outdistanced Andy Mayberry, his Republican opponent, in campaign contributions.
Snyder has raised $596,283 for his campaign compared to Mayberry’s $94,488.
In a breakdown of Snyder’s contributions, $381,963 came from individuals, $204,264 came from PACs and $9,250 came from Democratic Party committees.
Mayberry borrowed $15,000, but most of his campaign has been financed by individuals, who contributed $76,439. PACs contributed $1,600.