Report: Taylor has financial edge over Cox

Larry Peterson of the Savannah Morning News writes:

Democratic candidate for governor Mark Taylor entered the final weeks of the primary election campaign with a big financial advantage over Cathy Cox.

Reports on file with the State Ethics Commission showed that, as of June 30, Taylor, the lieutenant governor, had $1.12 million on hand. Cox, the secretary of state, reported having $560,379.

The reports also show how Taylor appears to have gained the upper hand in the advertising battle over the previous three months.

Taylor reported spending almost $4.4 million, much of it for television related outlays; Cox, a little more than $3.7 million.

During the same period, the candidates reported raising almost identical amounts of electioneering cash, with Taylor raking in $1,286,830 and Cox, $1,286,321.

But Taylor, who started his campaign sooner, has raised nearly $6.9 million overall, compared to a little more than $5.6 million for Cox.

Just keeping even with Cox in the last quarter represented a turnaround for Taylor.

In the last six months of 2005, Cox collected almost $2 million, compared to a little more than $1 million for Taylor.