Coleman chartLike a plane from Washington, D.C., descending into Minnesota through iffy Midwestern weather, former Sen. Norm Coleman’s financial support from individual donors took a long, bumpy decline. A week-by-week analysis of new Federal Elections Commission quarterly reports shows that receipts from individuals reached a high point around the time Coleman’s election-contest trial began Jan. 26.

Then they trended downward — with ups and downs along the way — through Coleman’s concession on the last day of June.

The court battle itself offered occasions for Coleman to exploit for fundraising opportunities, and his recount committee augmented those by reaching out to potential contributors via email, video and his website.

But a major snafu put a bite into Coleman’s recount income in March, after donors learned that their financial data had been exposed in a database breach at colemanforsenate.com. The month started with a high of 43 individual donations for a total of $110,000, his fifth-best week. But four weeks later, after news of the leak had made national headlines, he took in only six checks, his fifth-worst week, for $21,500.

It was a turning point for Coleman’s fundraising methods: The campaign yanked the website’s online donation function, asking donors to mail in checks instead. (A U.S. Secret Service investigation into the data leak was still pending this month.)

Weekly receipts continued to rise and fall afterward but never again reached $100,000. The Coleman Minnesota Recount Committee reported receiving its last check on June 16: $10,000 from David Fisher, founder of the Gap.

Two weeks later, the Minnesota Supreme Court told Coleman it couldn’t help him close his 312-vote gap with Al Franken, and within hours Coleman was letting his supporters down gently, telling them his re-election efforts had reached the end of the runway.

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