Bysiewicz Makes Friday Fundraising Announcement. Puts $361,818.22 on the Board.

Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz raised $361,818.22 in the first quarter of the year for her campaign for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. Her campaign announced late Friday afternoon that it has cash on hand of $1.050,405.90. While Bysiewicz will have enough money to stay in the race, she will need some breaks in the weeks ahead to close the gap with frontrunner U.S. Representative Christopher Murphy, who has several times more cash on hand to spend in the August primary.

Bysiewicz,who ran unsuccessfully for governor and attorney in her annus horribilus of 2010, ought to sail past the 15% delegate mark she needs to force a primary. She’ll need a marked improvement in fundraising during the spring and early summer if she’s to be anything more than a vanity candidate who has nothing else to do but run for office as a reinvented populist.