Democrats are continuing to hit the "stop the Tea Party" theme in an attempt to defeat Wake County school board candidates Heather Losurdo and Ron Margiotta.

As noted in today's article, a new mailer appearing in mail boxes Tuesday urges people to request an absentees ballot to stop the Tea Party. It's funded by the same group that paid for the mailers that came over the weekend accusing Margiotta and Losurdo of pushing the Tea Party agenda on Wake schools.

This new mailer says "you can stop the Tea Party without even leaving your couch." It also reads "with absentee balloting, there's no excuse to skip this election and let the Tea Party win."

A group headed by a Raleigh Democratic businessman prominent in the gay community has sent out a Wake County school board campaign mailer urging voters to "vote again Ron Margiotta and the Tea Party agenda."

The front of the mailer charges that board chairman "Ron Margiotta forced the Tea Party agenda on our schools" and says that "on October 11, we can fight back." The wording borders an image of an angry Margiotta standing next to a Raleigh police officer at one of the school board meetings that was disrupted by protesters.

"Wake County School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta is backed by Tea Party radicals with a right-wing agenda that is hurting our public schools," according to the inside of the flier. "This partisan, slash-and-burn agenda is draining resources from our schools  and ruining their reputation. The results of Margiotta's agenda have been devastating — our schools' accreditation is now at risk, and $80 million in federal school funding has been jeopardized."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Record amounts of campaign cash are already flowing into the Wake County school board races with a month of fundraising still to go.

As noted in today's article, the individual candidates have raised a record total of more than $238,000 so far. That's more than the $167,000 raised by candidates in 2007 and the $155,000 raised in 2009.

With the political parties and political action committees also actively raising cash, it's likely this year's final total will exceed the more than $340,000 in overall school board election money raised in 2009.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta and Susan Evans are both pulling in substantial amounts of cash in the District 8 race, including money from the Popes, Bob Luddy and the Campbells.

The new campaign report filed today by Margiotta shows he had raised $40,367.33 as of Aug. 30 with $34,111.23 on hand. The new report for Evans shows she had raised $26,406.43 as of Aug. 30 with $21,405.30 on hand.

The biggest donors for Margiotta in his new report are the $4,000 apiece from conservative businessman Art Pope, his wife Katherine Pope and conservative businessman Bob Luddy.

Don't directly look for the results of the new Wake County school election poll being conducted by Public Policy Polling.

PPP was polling people across the county on Thursday with questions on topics such as the elections, student assignment and the performance of Superintendent Tony Tata. But PPP isn't releasing the results because it says it's a private poll.

PPP does a lot of work for Democratic groups and candidates. Plus, PPP President Dean Debnam founded the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC that could try again to sway the election against Republican school board candidates.

There's no question this election cycle about conservative businessman Art Pope's direct financial involvement in the Wake County school board elections.

Campaign finance reports filed last week by school board candidate Donna Williams showed she had raised $22,456.33. That includes $4,000 from Pope, $4,000 from his wife and $4,000 from conservative businessman Bob Luddy.

Pope's role in the 2009 school board elections has been hotly debated. Pope has repeatedly pointed to how he only gave money to the Wake County Republican Party in 2009 and not to any individual school board candidates.

The Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is looking like it could be a big player in this fall's Wake County school board elections.

As noted in today's article, the PAC has reported raising $27,803.28 with $25,671.54 on hand. In contrast, the Wake Schools Community Alliance has reported raising $268.92 an having only $1 on hand.

There's a strong connection between Wake Citizens for Good Government, the five Democratic school board candidates and the Wake County Democratic Party. A number of people are giving money to all three groups, similar to how some of the 2009 donors gave money to the four winning school board candidates, the WSCA and the Wake County Republican Party.

Groups hoping to unseat the Republican majority on the Wake County school board appear to have a substantial early fundraising advantage.

As noted in today's article, the five Democratic school board candidates and the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC have reported raising more than $85,000 so far. That doesn't include the donations that the Wake County Democratic Party plans to raise as part of its coordinated campaign.

The biggest donors so far are John and Ann Campbell, who've given at least $40,000. That's $32,000 to four school board candidates and $8,000 to Wake Citizens for Good Government.

Money is already flowing into Wake County school board campaigns several months before the elections or even the start of the campaign filing period.

The biggest early donors are Ann Campbell and John Campbell. School board members Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton have both received $8,000 from the Campbells.

Ann Campbell, the president of Campbell Alliance Pharmaceutical Consulting, might sound familiar. She's a magnet school parent from North Raleigh and Great Schools in Wake Coalition member who wrote this March 17 op-ed piece urging support for maintaining socioeconomic diversity in schools.

Gov. Bev Perdue and several other Democratic Party leaders are scheduled to attend a Thursday fundraiser in Raleigh for a group that's hoping to wrest control of the Wake County school board away from the Republican majority.

The stated goal of the fundraiser for the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is to benefit Wake school board candidates "who support high quality public schools for all children." The PAC was formed in 2009 and unsuccessfully ran a television attack ad against Republican-backed school board candidates.

The PAC was formed by Dean Debnam, president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm of Public Policy Polling. PPP has recently conducted surveys on Wake school issues for what the firm says is a private client.