Well, it’s not literally last call, but in practical terms it’s pretty damn late. Thanks to universally accessible mail-in voting, the longer a candidate waits to spend money, the less impactful it will be. As a result, some candidates (whose fundraising perhaps outpaced expectations) seem to be shoveling money out the door as quickly as they can.

First, a note about the calendar. In the home stretch of a campaign, the deadlines come thick and fast. Candidates are required to file on October 1, October 15, and November 1. Also, in the 45 days before an election they’re required to report any mass media expenditures of $500 or more within 24 hours. The rationale, I believe, is to provide as much clarity as possible about late-stage campaign activity. The problem is, gaining clarity would require (a) each voter diligently poring over the reports, or (b) robust media coverage of campaign spending. The former is an impossible ask, and the latter is largely a thing of the past given the tremendously reduced ranks of our political press corps.

Anyway. There’s little earthshaking in the new reports; they only cover two weeks. But there are some items worthy of note, and here they are.

In the gubernatorial race, Gov. Phil Scott continues to extend his massive lead over Democrat Esther Charlestin. Scott raised $52,583 in the first half of October, giving him a campaign total of $302,653. He’s actually spent more than that, taking advantage of the $332,359 surplus he brought from previous campaigns. Team Scott spent $85,049 between the 1st and the 15th, bringing his campaign total to $383,569. A lot of that was spent trying to boost Republican numbers in the Legislature through online ads, mailers, TV ads, and polling in select races. The Scott campaign gave Washington, D.C. consultancy Battleground Strategies a cool $10,600 to place online ads.

A bunch of max donations to Scott came from the flood-ravaged city of Barre. Mayor Thom Lauzon, his wife Karen, two of his businesses (47 North Main LLC and Derf Realty Corp), and business partner Fred Oeschger all gave maximum $4,480 contributions to Scott, as did fellow Barre resident Roberta Haskin.

Charlestin was again paddling in the shallow end of the money pool. She raised $6,791 in the period for a campaign total of $41,312. She didn’t spend much, so her campaign is finally out of the red; she has about $7,400 in the bank. Contrast Charlestin’s meager income with 2022’s Brenda Siegel, who’d raised $163,887 by the same point two years ago.

The race for lieutenant governor continued hot and heavy. Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman held his financial edge over Republican challenger John Rodgers; the incumbent raised $16,539 in early October compared to Rodgers’ $20,250, but Zuckerman still leads Rodgers by more than $60,000 in total fundraising. As usual, most of Rodgers’ money came in four-figure donations from the Barons of Burlington and their ilk, while Zuckerman continued to rake in lots of small and medium donations. One expenditure of note: Rodgers paid failed Democratic candidate James Ehlers another $4,000 for consulting services of, if I may editorialize, questionable value. Rodgers did not pay any more money to failed legislative candidate Elizabeth Brown.

Treasurer Mike Pieciak continues to raise money hand over fist for no particular reason. Well, besides building a war chest^TM for his inevitable run for governor whenever Scott stands down. His total haul is now $344,615. When you add his incoming surplus of $33,472 and subtract campaign spending of $159,527, you’re left with a healthy balance of $218,560, which Pieciak can safely bank for future endeavors. His Republican challenger, Joshua Bechhoefer, had raised a total of $2,000 as of his most recent report — which was filed on September 1. All of it came from one person: Myers Mermel, owner of the Radio Vermont Group. Bechhoefer’s campaign expenditures totaled only $103 at last report.

I don’t think Pieciak has to sweat the closing weeks of the campaign. Indeed, he could be urging potential donors to support Democratic legislative candidates (or, ahem, Charlestin) instead, but that would require a degree of selflessness uncharacteristic of ambitious pols.

Some Republican candidates for Senate who’ve enjoyed the generous backing of the Barons are trying to spend down their healthy balances. Samuel Douglass of the Orleans district paid more than $9,000 for postcards from Vermont Republicans’ favorite vendor, Spectrum Marketing of Manchester, NH. The Dem in the race, Rep. Katherine Sims, spent only $1,113 in the first half of the month. Considering that she still has an unspent balance of nearly $27,000, she presumably feels comfortable with her position in the race.

Joe Gervais, the far-right hopeful in Bennington, didn’t spend much money in the first half of October — but on October 16 he dropped more than $9,000 in the laps of Spectrum Marketing: $8,156 for postcards and $1,008 for “Robo Calls.” Bruce Roy, doomed Republican in the solidly blue Chittenden Southeast district, paid Spectrum $6,915 for postcards. The bulk of that money came from Skip Vallee, his business R.L. Vallee, and his wife Denise; each donated the maximum $1,680 to Roy. (See, if you own corporate entities like Vallee and Lauzon, you can skirt the legal limits on individual donations. Neat!)

Rep. Chris Mattos, Republican candidate in Chittenden North, spent more money on postcards prepped and mailed by Battleground Strategies. This time it was $7,775, and that’s on top of a previous spend of $13,339. I sure as hell hope those are the world’s slickest mailers.

Also padding Battleground’s bottom line: Steven Heffernan, Republican candidate in Addison, who paid Battleground $9,125 for postcards, and Orange’s Larry Wayne Hart, who paid Battleground $3,181 for postcards and another $1,500 for placement of online ads.

Amidst all the Republican reliance on a New Hampshire printer and a Washington, D.C. consultancy, let’s give a shout-out to Rep. Pat Brennan, Senate candidate in Grand Isle, for spending close to $5,500 on postcards from Paw Print & Mail of South Burlington.

In the Caledonia district, Republican Rep. Scott Beck and Democrat Amanda Cochrane have loads of money left in the bank. Beck’s total fundraising is close to $63,000, and spending is just above $36,000*. Cochrane has raised a bit more than $34,000 and spent just under $20,000. The loser is going to be left wondering what might have been.

*Late add: On October 18, Beck reported paying $2,000 to good ol’ Battleground for placement of online ads.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark MacDonald of Orange actually did a bit of spending in early October — he dropped a whole $803 on newspaper ads. MacDonald makes a habit of not campaigning, but thanks to Hart’s challenge, donors have given MacDonald more than $10,000. The bulk of that remains safely tucked away.

Finally, a note on post-10/15 mass media filings. The Vermont Conservation Voters Action Fund (the non-tax-deductible political arm of Vermont Conservation Voters) dropped a grand total of $32,321 for postcards in support of nine Democratic legislative candidates, all of it reported on the 16th. The work was done by Arlington, Virginia-based Deliver Strategies, which has a strikingly rudimentary, one-page website that includes the tagline “We Deliver Something New” and basic contact information. That’s it.

The VCVAF-backed candidates include:

• $8,101 for Sen. Andy Julow, seeking a full term after being appointed to replace the late Dick Mazza in the Grand Isle district, running against Republican Rep. Pat Brennan.
• $7,299 for Amanda Cochrane, Senate candidate facing well-heeled Rep. Scott Beck in the Caledonia district.
• $4,244 for Rep. Bobby Farlice-Rubio, seeking re-election in Caledonia-1 against Republican Debra Powers. The Republicans failed to mount a candidate in the district two years ago.
• $3,723 for Lonnie Poland, candidate in the two-seat Chittenden-Franklin district currently repped by Republicans Chris Mattos (now running for Senate) and Chris Taylor.
• $3,063 for Rep. Mike Rice, seeking a second term in the Bennington-Rutland district against Republican Sandy Pinsonault, who’s raised a formidable $13,787 (including $1,000 from Bruce Lisman and $1,120 from Bill Gaiotti, who ran against Rice in 2022 and lost by a bit less than six percentage points).
• $1,734 for Rep. Julia Andrews, seeking re-election in Chittenden-25. Andrews beat noteworthy nut Allison Duquette by nine points in 2022; now she’s challenged by noteworthy Friend of Duquette Brenda Steady.
• $1,457 for Rep. Sarita Austin and candidate Wendy Critchlow in the two-seat Chittenden-19 district. The other incumbent is Republican Pat Brennan, currently running for Senate.
• $1,434 for Rep. Carl Demrow in Orange-1. Two years ago, Demrow dispatched incumbent Republican and noted election truther Samantha Lefebvre by seven points.
• $1,266 for Rep. Josie Leavitt and running mate Luke Richter in the Grand Isle-Chittenden district. They’re facing incumbent Rep. Michael Morgan and his uncle, former representative Leland Morgan.

That’s it for now. I’ll be watching the mass media filings for further activity of note, and I’m sure I’ll be back on this beat after the next disclosure deadline on November 1.