3 GOP Candidates Spend $243 Million
Politico reports:
A group of three Republican candidates have spent nearly a quarter-billion dollars on statewide campaigns this cycle, overshadowing even the heavyweight independent groups commonly considered the biggest financial players of the 2010 elections.
The trio of Meg Whitman in California, Rick Scott in Florida and Linda McMahon in Connecticut together have burned through more money than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have pledged to spend — combined.
Even in midterm elections awash with money and packed with larger-than-life campaigns, the collective sum of $243 million is nothing short of astounding — especially since that’s just the money that came out of their own pockets.
But here’s the punch line: None of these candidates is ahead in the polls. Two of them — Whitman and McMahon — are actually behind.
Here’s the ledger:
— In California, Whitman, the former eBay CEO running for governor, has set a record for the most expensive self-funded campaign in history, reporting this week that she’s spent $141.6 million out of her personal account. Including donations, she’s spent $163 million in total.
But a poll this week from the Public Policy Institute of California had her 8 points behind former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, while a Republican survey showed the race tied.
— Across the country in Florida, Scott, a former health care executive, disclosed Friday that he’d put just over $60 million in personal and family money behind his gubernatorial bid.
Scott appears to be the most competitive of the three candidates: Polls have differed over whether he or Democratic nominee Alex Sink is in the lead, but all of them have shown a contest that’s still too close to call.
— And in Connecticut, a small state where just 1.1 million people voted in the last Senate election, McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, may be wishing she could get a refund.
She has used $41.5 million in personal funds for her no-expense-spared bid to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd — more than twice as much per voter as Whitman.
But after drawing within single digits of Democrat Richard Blumenthal in September, McMahon has fallen back to a wide disadvantage that the most recent survey pegged at 18 percentage points.
“I think you’re seeing just more confirmation of a very old cliché, that money can’t buy you love,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic strategist involved in Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s independent 2006 campaign against self-funder Ned Lamont.
It’s up to individual candidates, Gerstein said, to “capitalize — pun intended — on having all that money with having a good message, a good campaign, good character that gives people trust in you. … The political landscape is littered with people with big money, self-funders, who have had a lot of money.”
