Caucus-endorsed Parker big winner on finance filings

From the campaign:

We're Thrilled!

Houston, TX – The candidates for mayor filed their finance reports today – and the big story here is Annise Parker.

Everybody thought Gene Locke would have three times as much money. But Annise Parker has more.

Because he has a limited base of support, Brown is having to spend his personal wealth to try to buy his way into the mayor's office. Let's remember, in 2003 Bill White started out with little name ID. That's the position Brown is in. It took White – who did have an actual base of support – $6 million to get into a runoff spot.

Bottom line – the big story is Annise Parker:

• Parker has more cash on hand than Locke.
• Parker has more than three times as many individual donations as Locke, and almost twice as many as Brown and Locke combined.
• Locke is spending almost twice as much money per month as Parker – simply trying to catch up to the substantial lead Parker entered the race with and continues to grow.
• Locke's campaign stated that the evidence of "campaign strength" was raising $383,000 in the last 30 days. But Parker raised more than that during the last 30 days. (If the last 30 days is the mark of campaign strength, it's worth noting that Parker raised 47% of her total contributions in the last 30 days of the period, while Locke raised 33% of his total contributions during that time.)

One thing is clear: Annise Parker is not only the candidate who started out with a strong lead – she's the candidate who continues to grow that lead. Parker's dollars were raised from more individual donors than any other candidate. Parker’s small dollar donors live on a budget, give wisely and will give again and again during this important campaign to steer Houston through tough economic challenges.

Keep up the good work!