Michaud campaign finances broke state records

By Rhiannon Varmette

WASHINGTON--In his first run for Congress last year, Rep. Mike Michaud raised $1,187,462, more than any candidate ever brought in before in a District 2 House of Representatives race, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Michaud spent $1,178,398 to win his seat, and the national Democratic Party threw in about $800,000 more on his behalf, according to Rick Galena, the fundraising director for Michaud's campaign.

Michaud captured 52 percent of the vote in a race against Kevin Raye, a former aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe. Both parties poured money into the race for the seat vacated by Democrat John Baldacci, who was elected governor, as they tried to increase their numbers in a closely divided House.

Galena said the fundraising was as close and as difficult as the race itself.

"When they said how much money we had to raise, I laughed," Galena said. "I think we surprised a lot of people."

Galena said Michaud raised a large amount of money from core Democratic donors and supporters he met during two decades in the Maine legislature.

Eighty-five percent of Michaud's contributions came from Maine, Galena said.

Michaud, a former employee of the Great Northern Paper Mill, received about $300,000 from organized labor. Other union political action committees that contributed represented electrical workers, carpenters, ironworkers and food and commercial employees.

"We benefited greatly from our wide breadth of support from organized labor," Galena said. Michaud, he said, was "one of two or three actual card-carrying union members running. It's very uncommon for labor to be able to elect one of their own to such a high position."

Michaud's campaign finances were split closely between individual contributions and political action committees (PACs). Of the money donated by PACs, about half came from labor, 32 percent from interest groups that focus on single issues and 18 percent from business PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors campaign contributions.

Some of the top contributors to Michaud's campaign were the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of Credit Unions and the AFL-CIO.

Raye raised nearly as much as Michaud-$1,129,835-and spent almost as much as the winner--$1,116,770. Spokespeople for the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee declined to say how much the GOP spent on the race.

Because of campaign finance reform laws passed last year that restrict "soft money" -previously unlimited contributions to political parties - Michaud's fundraising strategy may change in his next election. The law is being challenged in court.

"We will be relying even more on individual contributions, everything from the person who can give $25 to the person who can give the maximum [now $4,000]," Galena said.

First-time candidates who won their races raised an average of $1,120,215 in the 2002 congressional races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.. Michaud's campaign raised the second-highest amount, topped only by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who raised $2,970,215 to topple Republican Rep. Connie Morella.

When Baldacci first was elected in 1994, he spent less then $400,000 on his campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.

In other 2002 congressional races in Maine, Rep. Tom Allen - running for his third term in the District 1 House seat - raised $510,244, and Sen. Susan Collins - in a competitive race again Common Cause President Chellie Pingree - raised $4.3 million.

Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.