By Andy Sher
asher@timesfreepress.com
NASHVILLE - Republican Bill Haslam injected another $2.8 million of personal wealth into his gubernatorial campaign during the latest reporting period, but Democrat Mike McWherter said today it is too soon to say if he will add anything beyond the $1 million he put in last spring.
McWherter said he has not put any additional funds into his effort since the money he loaned his campaign on March 31. He only began his fall television advertising campaign on Friday with early voting in the Nov. 2 contest starting Wednesday.
"I may," said McWherter, a Jackson, Tenn., beer distributor, when asked about the matter. "I always wanted to make sure we were getting our message out all through the month of October. And if it's necessary to add some additional funds towards the end of the month, I'll do that to make sure that we keep our message up."
Third quarter campaign financial disclosures are due Tuesday. Haslam's campaign told The Associated Press on Sunday that the Knoxville mayor would report third quarter contributions of $3.15 million. In addition to that, Haslam, whose family owns Pilot Corp., pumped in another $2.8 million of his personal wealth into the campaign.
It was unclear how much of that came during the waning days of the Aug. 5 GOP primary and how much came in the general election campaign.
According to McWherter's most recent disclosure, a July 29 preprimary disclosure, he made a $232,732 television media buy on ads, some of which were aired prior to the primary and some in the days immediately after.
As of July 26, McWherter reported having $1.27 million in cash on hand.