Sources of Funds Signal National Importance of Collins-Allen Race
FEC MAINE
Bangor Daily News
Vicki Ekstrom
Boston University Washington News Service
3/12/2008
WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ match-up against Democratic Rep. Tom Allen in Maine’s U.S. Senate race is drawing large amounts of money from out of state donors, a sign that the race is national in scope and competitive, said scholars, analysts and officials from both parties.
“I don’t think there is any question that this is one of the most competitive races in the country and I think contributions from across the country signify that,” said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter that focuses on campaigns. “We’re seeing donors from outside the state give because they realize this is a very competitive race and it’s a seat Republicans need to hold and Democrats have a chance of gaining.”
Collins, the incumbent, closed 2007 with a 20-point lead, according to a November poll by Critical Insights, a market research firm in Portland.
Collins also out-fundraised Allen in 2007 and had more cash in her campaign account at year’s end, the most recent reporting period. Allen raised $2.8 million in 2007 compared to Collins’ $3.8 million, according to their filings with the Federal Election Commission. She also began 2007 with a larger war chest and spent less money through the year. Collins ended 2007 with $3.9 million in her campaign wallet as opposed to Allen’s $2.5 million.
Overall since her re-election in 2002, Collins has raised about $4.5 million. Federal campaigns are required to ask for personal information – address and employer, for example – from donors who give more than $200. Collins had raised $2.6 million in such contributions through the end of 2007, of which about 73 percent — $1.9 million — came from out of state, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that collects and studies campaign contribution data. This placed her eighth among Senate candidates in terms of percentage of funds raised from out of state, according to the center. Allen, who was last reelected in 2006, raised about $1.8 million in chunks of $200 or more, of which roughly 66 percent — $1.2 million – came from outside of Maine, placing him third on a list of House incumbents.
Any time candidates raise a lot of money from outside their state it’s an indication that the race is on the national radar, said Massie Ritsch, the center’s communications director.
“They have received these funds because of the national importance of this race,” said Sandy Maisel, director of Colby College’s Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement. “Influences outside the state of Maine – political candidates, interest groups, political parties – understand the importance of this race.”
Most of these supporters have Washington, New York or California zip codes, Ritsch said.
“Having an incumbent senator and a sitting member of the House both as candidates, they both have a large network to draw from when trying to get support,” said Gonzales from the Rothenberg Report.
Allen has received more contributions from party committees than any other candidate in the country, pulling in more than $40,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Allen also raised $54,000 from other candidates, including $10,000 – the maximum amount a political action committee can give – from the Hope Fund, Sen. Barack Obama’s leadership PAC, and $10,000 from the Searchlight Leadership Fund, the leadership PAC for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. A leadership PAC is a committee a politician establishes separate from their campaign PAC, primarily used to give contributions to colleagues.
The Democratic Party is sending money to Allen because Collins is a sitting Republican in a blue state in a region of the country where “Republicans are an endangered species,” Gonzales said. “Any Republican in a blue state is going to gain attention from the Democratic Party.”
As the Democrats funnel money to Allen, Republicans are trying to keep up. The Republican Party gave Collins more than $5,000 as of the end of the year. She also had received close to $280,000 – more than any other congressional candidate nationwide – from other politicians. Her benefactors included Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., the former Democrat who still caucuses with his former party and chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Collins is the top-ranking Republican. Lieberman contributed $10,000 from his leadership PAC, Responsibility, Opportunity, Community. Fellow Republican Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe contributed $4,000 from her personal campaign fund.
“Sen. Collins is very popular in the Senate and her colleagues want to bring her back,” said Rebecca Fisher, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “The Republican Party also doesn’t want to lose more seats and this has been considered a vulnerable seat, although Collins seems to have made the case that she doesn’t have one of the vulnerable seats anymore. She’s proven herself well as a candidate and is well liked. Voters in Maine don’t see her as a party – as a Democrat or Republican – they see her as a candidate who has advocated for them.”
In smaller states like Maine, candidates can’t rely solely on the financial support of their constituents because there isn’t much political cash to raise, said Ritsch; but while much of her money comes from out-of-state donors, Collins has received contributions from local Mainers, such as the recently deceased philanthropist Harold Alfond and Chris McCormick, the president of L.L. Bean, said Steve Abbott, Collins’ campaign manager. Both Alfond and McCormick donated $2,300 each, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Other major sources of largely out-of-state contributions for the two candidates are corporate PACs and advocacy groups. Collins ranked third among Senate candidates in the amount she raised from PACs, having raised close to $1.5 million. Her top five sources of funding were PACs, employees and family members of corporations, including defense contractor Raytheon, which contributing $22,250 in PAC and individual contributions, and Time Warner, giving $18,100, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Abbott argued that the PAC donations also represent contributions from individuals within a variety of different companies and industries.
Allen’s top contributor was the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, which encourages its members to donate directly to candidates. Through MoveOn.org members, Allen raised more than $36,000, said the center.
“Many thousands of MoveOn members reside in Maine, but these donations are coming from throughout the nation. They’re regular people who want change and see Tom Allen as a direct route to get change,” said Carol Andrews, spokeswoman for the Allen campaign, who said much of Allen’s contributions are coming in small increments, $20, $10, $5 or even $2. “It’s individuals who want to see change. They want to see our troops out of Iraq. They want universal healthcare. They want tax cuts for the middle class.”
Collins also receives small contributions, but for both campaigns the “bulk of the campaign is financed by major donors,” said Steve Abbott, Collins’ campaign manager. The Collins campaign raised 1,826 contributions of $500 or more, while the Allen campaign raised 1,580 contributions of $500 or more, according to data released by the Collins campaign.
Both parties do acknowledge that money isn’t everything.
“Money helps but there have been a lot of cases in the past where money hasn’t won the race,” said Fisher of the Republican Party.
In 2006, six U.S. Senate incumbents were defeated and in each case the winner raised less than the incumbent, said Matt Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
With close to $4 million in Collins’ wallet and about $2.5 million left for Allen to spend, it’s safe to say both candidates will have enough to run their campaigns, said Gonzales of The Rothenberg Political Report.
“What’s important isn’t always the money, but the message,” said Miller.
The message coming from the Allen campaign is one of change.
“The Democratic Party really wants to see change and the road to that change goes straight through Maine,” said Andrews of the Allen campaign. “We’ll never raise as much money because she’s the incumbent, but we’re raising enough money to be competitive.”
This message of change is the “same message that we’re hearing from every other Democrat with a pulse,” said Gonzales.
“It’s laughable,” said Abbott of Collins’ campaign. “There’s a guy whose been running on a change theme for the past year and that’s Barack Obama, not Tom Allen.”
Both Abbott and the Republican senatorial committee’s Fisher said that a change message works when voters want a change in their representatives. But, Fisher said, “I think they like Collins as their representative.”
It’s also hard for Allen to stand on a change message because he works across the street from Collins on Capital Hill and they have been in office for the same amount of time, Fisher said. Allen is also now a member of the majority party and if Democrats want change it’s now up to them, Abbott and Fisher said.
Miller, of the Democratic Party, argued that it takes 60 votes to do anything in the Senate and that the Republicans keep blocking the Democrats from making any real change. While Democrats work to increase their majority to get closer to the 60-vote mark, Republicans work to maintain the seats they already have.
“Congressman Allen needs to make his case to the voters that Senator Collins needs to be fired. The majority of voters like the job she is doing and he needs to change how voters in Maine look at their senator,” Gonzales said. “Both candidates are going to have the money they need, now it’s just about which will have the message to prevail.”
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