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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 15, 2004
Keyes FEC Report Shows $1.1 Million Cash on Hand

More than 20,000 individual contributors fuel grass-roots campaign

(CHICAGO, OCTOBER 15) – Keyes 2004 campaign manager Bill Pascoe today released the campaign's third-quarter report to the Federal Election Commission, and issued the following statement:

"As this FEC report shows, Alan Keyes has broad-based support from the grass roots all over Illinois, and, in fact, America. Given that Alan stands for the kind of traditional, common-sense values shared by the majority of voters here in America's heartland, that makes perfect sense.

"In just seven weeks, our campaign raised $1,349,679.83 from 20,176 individual contributors and five – count 'em, five – PACs and political party committees. The individual contributions accounted for $1,309,015.83 – a stunning 97 percent. And when you divide the total amount contributed by the number of contributions, you learn that our average contribution was a remarkably low $65.04, more evidence of a true grass-roots campaign.

"Contrast that with Barack Obama, who's been vacuuming up money from every special interest group you can name, and the difference couldn't be clearer: Alan Keyes is the candidate who believes there's no interest more special than the citizens of Illinois, while Barack Obama seems to be the candidate wearing a 'For Sale' sign on his back.

"Moreover, our campaign only spent $222,962.32, leaving us with $1,127,318.84 cash on hand. As the campaign enters its closing weeks, and voters finally begin to tune in, we will have the financial resources necessary to spread Alan's message when it counts. Illinois voters will have a clear choice in this election: they can choose a candidate who agrees with them on fundamental principles like a strong national defense, limited government, greater individual liberty, and traditional moral values, or they can choose a man funded by the special interests, who wants to raise taxes to fuel more and more wasteful Big Government spending programs."

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