Fundraising Difficulties for ATL Mayoral Candidates

By Charles Edwards

Atlanta, GA – Just like this year, there was no incumbent in the race for Atlanta mayor eight years ago. That's about where the comparisons end, especially when it comes to fundraising.

When Mayor Shirley Franklin first ran for mayor, she raised $4 million. That's more than the total amount of money raised by the six candidates running this year.

"It suggests that campaign dollars are very hard to come by in this election cycle," says Harvey Newman, chair and professor of the public management and policy department at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Newman says it's hard to fundraise this year because of the recession. He also says last year's expensive Presidential race left the contribution tap dry.

"And that means that candidates are anxious to get their message out anyway that they can," says Newman.

One way has been through the use of forums. There have been more than twenty mayoral forums so far with many more to go. Many candidates are taping the debates and posting them on YouTube, which is a lot cheaper than paying for radio and television ads. With two months left in the race, ads have basically been absent from the campaign.

Charles Edwards, WABE News.