Campaign fundraising in full swing

INDIANAPOLIS -- Mitch Daniels, the former White House budget director who began a campaign for governor about 10 days ago, has kicked the fund-raising side of his campaign into high gear.\nDaniels already has scheduled at least 15 fund-raisers from July through early August. They include two $5,000-per-person dinners to be thrown by former Eli Lilly and Co. Chairman and CEO Randall Tobias on July 15 and Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi on July 21.\nAll of the fund-raisers together are expected to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars.\nDaniels took his first formal steps toward running for governor June 9 by filing papers to start raising money.\nDaniels says he has no idea how much he will need to budget to win the race. He knows only that "it will be a lot, and we'll go get it."\nAlso seeking the Republican nomination are former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh; state Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville; conservative activist Eric Miller; Petersburg Mayor Randy Harris; and Indianapolis businessman Bob Parker.\nTwo Democrats -- state Sen. Vi Simpson of Ellettsville and former state and national Democratic chairman Joe Andrew -- are seeking their party's nomination.\nSimpson gave the public an early look at her fund raising in April. She had raised about $250,000, including $120,000 she had in her Senate campaign fund.\nBill Oesterle, Daniels' campaign manager, said he does not know how much money all of the events will bring in, but he has set a fund-raising goal of $15 million. That would be the most money ever raised in Indiana by a candidate for governor.\nIn 2000, Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon and his Republican opponent, McIntosh, spent about $20 million combined.\n"Money is going to determine a lot of things early in this race," Oesterle said.\nBut, Daniels cautioned, money alone won't do it.\n"It isn't the center of what we'll do. I don't want to go anywhere only to raise money," he said.\nThe two Democrats in the race were in Indianapolis on Thursday speaking to a group of gays and lesbians.\nAfterward, Simpson said, "We're aiming for a fairly large budget ourselves. We're going to raise as much as we need to get our message out."\nAndrew noted that Republicans have outspent Democrats in the past several elections for governor, but Democrats have won.\n"Democrats are used to getting our message out to working families across Indiana without having as much money," Andrew said. He would say only that he had "raised enough. I'm on target"