STARK CO. "FAT CATS"/"POOBAHS" BOOST GIBBS OVER HARBAUGH IN CAMPAIGN FUNDRASING

UPDATED:  1:10 PM

Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that overall Democratic 7th Congressional District candidate Ken Harbaugh has out-fundraised incumbent Republican congressman Bob Gibbs.

However, counting individual contributions only, in Stark County Gibbs has outraised Harbaugh by nearly $16,000.

Here is selected parts of a  Cleveland.com report interpretation of "the filed yesterday" (October 15, 2018) by federal election law required quarterly and overall-to-date campaign finance reports of the two candidates:

By Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com seaton@cleveland.comOctober 16, 2018 

WASHINGTON, D. C. - Democratic congressional challenger Ken Harbaugh of Avon raised more than twice as much money as Republican congressman Bob Gibbs during the quarter that ended September 30 ... . 

But thHarbaugh accumulated more than $761,000 from donors including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Loews Hotel Chairman Jonathan M. Tisch, bestselling author John Grisham, and Jim Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson 

Most of the $267,000 that Gibbs collected during those three months came from political action committees.e Holmes County congressman still had $1.6 million in the bank in the final stretch before November's election, compared with $507,000 for Harbaugh ... . 

Harbaugh has raised more than $2.2 million during the election cycle, compared with slightly more than $1 million for Gibbs, who had amassed a substantial war chest during his years in office.

The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) examined the current FEC and comes away with the following observations.

• Relatively few Stark Countians (reported by name) contributed to either campaign over the January 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018 period,
• Gibbs has tallied $45,500 from by named in the report Stark Countians,
• Harbaugh has pulled in $29, 686 by named in the report Stark Countians,
• Gibbs'  individual contributor list includes a number of
•  Stark County-based 
• chief executive officers, 
• chief financial officers,
• chairmen of the boards, 
• presidents, 
• vice presidents,
• treasurers, and 
• owners of Stark County-based businesses.
• All people who likely can get on the telephone and be in almost instant contact with the congressman,
• But the rest of us many times do not even get a simple acknowledgment of an attempt to be in contact.
• The list:

• Harbaugh, on the other hand, has very few if any business class/entrepreneurial-eque Stark County contributors, to wit:

• The only name most Stark Countians would recognize from Harbaugh's list is that of Stark County Court of Common Pleas judge Chryssa Hartnett.
• Chances of getting a response from a Congressman Harbaugh from a constituent contact  (even non-connected people), based on his press-the-flesh of ordinary people in Town Hall meetings, appear to be much greater of not foolproof from this candidate.

• One area of the Harbaugh the SCPR is watching given his "Country Over Party" campaign theme is his financial ties to Democrat elected officials and various associated with the Democratic Party campaign funding mechanisms, to wit:

• Notable on the foregoing list is Judge Taryn Heath, former Stark County Dems' chairman Randy Gonzalez and the Democratic Congressional Caucus Committee

• Note:  There may be other connected to the "organized" Stark Democratic Party who have contributed (a total of $242,773) in the "unitemized individual contributions" for the 01/01/2017 - 09/30/2018 period which include "household" Stark County Democratic names.

• .Gibbs on the other hand had not reported contributions from any GOP committees/candidate committees
• Gibbs total of "unitemized contributions" now stands at $24,647 which, as with Harbaugh, may include contributions of Stark County GOP "household" names.
• At 36 different individual "reported by name" contributors (Gibbs) and 11 individual "reported by name" contributors (Harbaugh), it appears that Stark Countians are hardly standing in line to contribute to either campaign

The SCPR expects this to be a very close election.

The Report expects Gibbs to roll up significant majorities in the counties to the south of Stark County.

The Report expects Harbaugh to roll up significant majorities in counties to the north of Stark County.

As the most populous county in this multi-county "gerrymandered" Republican district, Stark might turn out to be where the election is won or lost.

If frequent presence in the county means anything, Harbaugh is far and away the most visible candidate.

His careful and persistent effort to Stark County could be the difference in his winning or losing!