| No, that is not a typo and I did not leave out an extra zero. Last week, John Sharp's campaign released few details about his second quarter fundraising. Now we know why. The former Texas Comptroller raised only $45,000. Sharp loaned himself another $610,000, bringing his total personal loans over $2.6 million. Of the $2.8 million Sharp reported having on hand, only about $555,000 of it has come from individuals. Of course, money is money and having $2.8 million on hand certainly buys Sharp time to get his fundraising in order. While Sharp has loaned his campaign a substantial amount, unlike someone like Tony Sanchez, he does not have deep enough pockets to finance an entire statewide campaign. Also, Houston Mayor Bill White, the other Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, actually contributed more to his campaign than Sharp loaned to his in the second quarter. So far Bill White has outraised John Sharp roughly $3.6 million to $555,000. In the second quarter, White raised more than 20 times the amount Sharp did. Due to Sharp's large early loan, his $2.8 million on hand is relatively close to White's $3.4 million on hand. Sharp will need to significantly improve his fundraising in the coming months to maintain the difference between the two in the coming months. Update: Just got to take a look at the Sharp's FEC report. His campaign refunded $90,2000 in c.ontributions during the quater. The campaign reports net contributions for the quarter at -$44,475. Yes, that's a negative number. Anybody know the story behind the refunded contributions? Update 2: Sharp also made a partial loan repayment to himself of $1678.10. Update 3: You can see a screenshot of the part of the FEC report pertaining to the negative net contributions here. 
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