McEwen campaign nearly broke

Republican Bob McEwen, a former southwest Ohio congressman who announced last week that he'll challenge Rep. Jean Schmdit in the 2nd District, is starting his campaign without much cash.

According to a campaign finance report McEwen filed with the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 18 - the same day he announced that he'd challenge Schmidt in the GOP primary - he had just $576.09 in the bank.

The report, which covers activity from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, says McEwen started the 4th quarter of last year with $867.50 in the bank. He loaned his campaign $1,000 and accepted $646.04 from Cincinnati Bell. He then spent $425 on a campaign event at the Holiday Inn Cincinnati Eastgate in October and paid the San Diego, Calif.-based Complete Campaigns firm $650 for fundraising in October, November and December of last year.

Michael Harlow, a spokesman for McEwen's campaign, said McEwen plans to raise "a heck of a lot more money" and has been on the phone with fundraisers all week.

"He has received several thousand dollars just in the past week," Harlow said.

Meanwhile, Schmidt's last campaign finance report was filed Jan. 9 and covers activity from Aug. 23 to Sept. 30. It showed that her campaign had $47,791.03 in the bank at that time. A report showing how much cash she had on hand as of Dec. 31 is due to the FEC by the end of this month.

That's also when we'll find out how much money has been raised by Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, and his Democratic opponent, Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley, so keep an eye out for an upcoming story in The Enquirer about how much money each of the area candidates have raised so far.