Political Party Involvement for District Five

It is not unusual for political parties to show support for their fellow party's candidates, in order to try and make sure that their specific member gets elected over the competition. However with the District Five election race, it does not look like either the Republican or Democrat parties are really stepping in to show support for Jim Sensenbrenner, or Todd Kolosso. In addition, I was unable to find any political party involvement that supported Independent candidate, Robert R. Raymond.

When looking at the Republican website I was unable to find anything for Jim Sensenbrenner regarding this election. After typing his name in the search bar, a few stories and posts came up, but the latest to date was back in September 2010! However when using OpenSecrets.org to review the spending on Sensenbrenner's campaign, it showed that $203,389 (54%) of his money came from PAC contributions, which is the political action committee.

As for Todd Kolosso political party involvement is even more sparse. Since Sensenbrenner has maintained his position for the past 30 years, it can be assumed that the Democrats are not expecting Kolosso to win over the seat. However when looking at the Democrats website, they do have a nice summary of all of their candidates, which was easy to find by state. This fact alone shows political party involvement in knowing who their candidates are, and supporting them.

No information was found regarding a political party supporting Independent candidate, Robert R. Raymond.

Meet James Sensenbrenner (Republican, incumbent)

F. James Sensenbrenner currently represents the Fifth District.  Sensenbrenner moved to Wisconsin from Chicago when he was a young child.  After attending Stanford University for his undergraduate in political science, Sensenbrenner earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Sensenbrenner has held his current position since 1980, giving him 30 years of experience over his competitors.  Sensenbrenner is married and has two grown sons.

            I have yet to see a Sensenbrenner commercial; however, Sensenbrenner has gotten more publicity than both Raymond, and Kolosso combined.  On Sensenbrenner’s website there is a “Media Center” tab that makes it easy for any of his followers to track photos, news articles, and youtube videos that include Sensenbrenner himself.  In addition, Sensenbrenner is taking advantage of social networking sites, such as facebook to also keep others updated.  Something that I found interesting on Sensenbrenner’s website included a “Kids Page.”  Under this tab one would find links that connect to government websites about Wisconsin and fun facts.

            As far as spending is concerned, according to OpenSecrets.org on August 25, 2010, Sensenbrenner has spent $317,247 on his campaign.

Meet Robert Raymond (Independent)

Robert R. Raymond is the Independent candidate for District Five’s House of Representatives.  Robert R. Raymond has no experience in politics other than when he ran against incumbent Jim Sensenbrenner back in 2008.  Raymond was born in Milwaukee and resides in Shorewood.  He is currently divorced with two children.  Raymond attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but did not achieve a degree.  Raymond ran his own roofing business located in Milwaukee, but after 25 years it had to be shut down.  Raymond claims that finding competent workers was too difficult, and that he could not keep up with other companies who were hiring “illegal immigrants.” (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/pre-election/bios/1100.html?SITE=NPRELN&SECTION=PREELECTION&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)  Raymond is currently employed by Bernhoff Law Firm, which is also located in Milwaukee.

            Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find information on candidate Raymond, and he is not even listed on many of the political websites, which feature both of his rivals.  I was unable to find any information regarding spending, campaign strategies, as well as advertisements for Robert Raymond.

Meet Todd Kolosso (Democrat)

Todd Kolosso is the Democrat candidate for District Five’s House of Representative position.  Kolosso has strong community ties since he attended Slinger grade school, Marquette University High School, and then Marquette University College.  While in college Kolosso received the privilege of studying abroad in both Germany, and Austria.  He graduated Marquette College with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations.  Kolosso’s professional life includes creating a commercial real estate management company, while also owning and operating a small retail apparel company in Arizona.  Although Kolosso prides himself on the fact that he is a small businessman, working for other small business owners, he also finds time to be a board member at the Washington County Humane Society.

                    Different advertising strategies that Kolosso is using during this campaign include social networking.  Kolosso has links for Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube on his official website, which allows one to see what he is working on, and be updated on the latest news.  Kolosso also has a blog which posts different articles that he finds interesting; however, the blog has not been updated for a few weeks.  In addition, Kolosso and District Five incumbent, Jim Sensenbrenner, held a debate located in Mequon just yesterday.  Kolosso has pictures and video clips of the debate on his Facebook page.

                    After viewing Kolosso in two video clips and reading some comments, he seems to be very respectful of his other candidates.  As far as advertisements such as commercials go, I have not seen anything on television or online.  It seems like Kolosso is mostly trying to use social networking strategies to support his campaign.

            According to OpenSecrets.org, on August 25, 2010, the Kolosso campaign has spent $156,920 with 92% of his money being under the category of “candidate self financing.”