With not enough money in her campaign account to cover the check she will have to write to the state in order to run for the state Senate, long-shot Democratic candidate Nina Hayden once told me via Twitter that she wasn’t spending a lot of time fundraising because she was focused on gathering the requisite number of signatures to qualify for the ballot via petition.
Looks like Hayden wasn’t focused enough.
According to the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections, Hayden came up short in her petition gathering efforts (unlike her likely Republican opponent Jack Latvala, who collected his signatures in a breeze). This means Hayden will have to pay her way on the ballot, which is no small matter for a a candidate who raised just $300 last quarter.
What’s more troubling for Hayden is what not qualifying via petition says about whatever grassroots/volunteer operation she has in place. With Latvala, who has a 549-to-1 cash-on-hand advantage, announcing one major endorsement after another, isn’t it time for Hayden to seriously re-consider going through with qualifying?
