Hensley Raises $251K in 1Q, Advisors Claim “Game On” April 13, 2012

Missouri’s Democratic 4th District Congressional candidate Teresa Hensley’s campaign says it raised more than $251,000 in the first quarter of the year.
Hensely is expected to be the Democratic nominee challenging Republican freshman Vicky Hartzler.
Hartzler has not released her campaign report yet. It is expected any day.
The Hensley memo says Hartzler has about $244,000 on hand, but raised less than $75,000 in the final quarter of 2011
In a memo to "interested parties", Hensley’s operation claims the 1st quarter numbers will draw attention.
"We anticipate that our first quarter will raise the profile of this race both locally and in Washington, DC and we intend to use it as a springboard into Q2," the memo states.
The Hensley campaign believes her record as a prosecutor will help here with voters. It concedes the race will not be easy.
Even though the Mo-4 sent former Democratic Congressman Ike Skelton to Congress for a generation before Hartzler defeated him in 2010, the district has evolved into a conservative section of Missouri. Skelton’s repeated re-elections were based largely on his strong support of the district military bases and it’s agricultural interests. He was the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee when he was defeated.
Hartzler is a member of the Armed Services Committee now. She has been outspoken about any future military base Closings. She believes the Department of Defense is not realizing enough saving quickly enough for the reductions to be effective.
On domestic matters, Hartzler made headlines as one of the last hold outs in the stormy debt ceiling fight in the summer of 2011.
The Hensley memo also notes Hartzler has taken some political lately for entering the debate about President Obama’s citizenship (see previous posts).
After being asked about it at a town hall meeting in Sedalia earlier this month, Hartzler told the Sedalia newspaper, “I have doubts that it is really his real birth certificate, and I think a lot of Americans do, but they claim it is, so we are just going to go with that.”