‘Joe the Plumber’ had $8,000 left in war chest as of Sept. 30

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber."

Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher’s campaign entered the final five weeks of his run for Congress with $7,974 left in his campaign account and a legal bill for almost the same amount, while the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), sat on nearly a quarter of a million dollars, according to new campaign finance reports.

Reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission show Mr. Wurzelbacher (R., Springfield Township) raised $39,678 in the third quarter this year and $365,784 for the race so far. Miss Kaptur (D.,Toledo) raised $208,139 in the same quarter and a total of $968,159 in the 2012 election contest so far. As of Sept. 30, she had $245,269 in cash left in her campaign account.

The mandatory reports were filed with the Federal Elections Commission and cover the months of July, August, and September.

The 9th District, which Mr. Wurzelbacher and Miss Kaptur are contesting, begins in Toledo and stretches through Erie, Ottawa, and Lorain counties to west Cleveland in Cuyahoga County.

Mr. Wurzelbacher has reported total expenditures of $357,810 for the campaign, including three $5,000 monthly salary payments to himself, on July 2, July 31, and Sept. 4. His report also shows a debt of $7,013 to the Detroit law firm Clark Hill for “legal services.”

Most of Mr. Wurzelbacher’s contributions were from individuals, while the majority of Miss Kaptur’s contributions came from committees. Her contributors included Advanced Concepts and Technologies PAC, Waco, Texas ($5,000); AFSCME People PAC, Washington ($4,000); American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Park Ridge, Ill. ($2,500); Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, Washington ($5,000); Laborers International Union, Washington ($5,000), and Amalgamated Transit Union, Washington ($5,000).

In the 5th District, Democratic challenger Angela Zimmann (D., Springfield Township) raised $189,649 in the most recent quarter, and a total of $384,842 in the election cycle so far. She ended the quarter with $102,979 cash on hand. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) reported raising $230,969 in the most recent quarter, and $944,984 for the election cycle. He had $320,239 left in his campaign war chest.

In the new 7th Congressional District in Michigan, Republican incumbent Tim Walberg of Tipton reported raising $155,788 in the quarter and $1,445,638 in the campaign so far. He had a hefty $687,247 in his campaign war chest. Challenger Kurt Haskell (D., Monroe) raised $4,355 in the quarter and $12,617 for the race so far, and he had $495 left in the account as of Sept. 30.

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana), running for re-election in Ohio’s 4th Congressional District, has received contributions totaling $160,453 for the quarter and $912,473 for the campaign so far, on top of $1,106,039 already in his campaign account. He ended the period with $1,085,990 in his account.

Mr. Jordan’s Democratic challenger, Jim Slone of Elyria, reported contributions during the third quarter of $4,963 and for the campaign so far of $26,080. He ended the third quarter with $7,544 in his campaign war chest.

Contact Tom Troy at: tomtroy@theblade.com, or 419-724-6058.