Bishop fills war chest for 2012 rematch

WASHINGTON -- After squeaking by in last November's election, Rep. Tim Bishop wasted no time in the past three months in raising money for next year's race.

On Friday, Bishop (D-Southampton) reported that he raked in $286,510 in the last quarter and already has almost half a million dollars in cash.

An aide said Bishop is gearing up for a 2012 rematch against St. James businessman Randy Altschuler, who lost by 593 votes last year and is weighing whether to run again.

"I'm seriously considering another run, but haven't made any decisions yet," Altschuler said in an email. "There's plenty of time for that."

Altschuler reported he had raised $8,500 in the first three months of this year, and that his campaign committee still owed him $500,000 of the $2.2 million he loaned it in a largely self-funded run in 2010.

But Altschuler previewed a potential campaign theme, saying Bishop is "clearly spending more time fundraising for 2012 than he is on fixing the mess in Washington created by years of reckless taxing, spending and borrowing by out-of-touch politicians like him."

Bishop aide Jon Schneider took little comfort in Altschuler's slight fundraising. "Unless Randy Altschuler forgets his ATM PIN code," he said, "I don't think money is going to matter to him."

If Altschuler runs again, Schneider said Bishop would have the money he needed to get out the message about deep cuts and the revamping of Medicare and Medicaid in Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's 2012 federal budget, which the House GOP passed Friday.

"We'll talk about things like Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare and how Republicans want to lay off 1,000 Brookhaven employees," he said.

The GOP is targeting Bishop again in 2012. Altschuler would like to have a clean shot at the five-term Democrat, without last year's contentious and expensive three-way primary.

Another GOP target on Long Island, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), said Friday that she raised $214,600 in the first quarter of this year and has $276,268 in the bank.

Reports filed by the other Long Island representatives showed Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) raised $445,075 and had $147,247 in cash; Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights) raised $59,175 and had $485,722 cash; and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) raised $137,304 and had $1.8 million in the bank.