Campaigns end with spending flurry

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Dec. 15, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's four high-profile campaigns for Congress spent more than $1.2 million in the final four weeks of their races, mostly on expensive television commercials and media consultants, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

The harried last days of campaigning for House candidates Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter and Senate candidates Ed Bernstein and John Ensign were marked by a wild series of "media buys."

One Democratic source described the closing moments of the races and the spending frenzy -- typical of most congressional campaigns -- as "brutal."

"It's critical for candidates to have fund-raising in place in the 11th hour, especially in order to respond to whatever their opponent is saying about them," said Sheila Krumholz, research director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign money watchdog. "It's not uncommon for candidates to raise campaign money right up until the end, and also stockpile it."

According to FEC reports, here's how much the candidates raised and spent between Oct. 19 and Nov. 27 (most of it immediately prior to the Nov. 7 election):

Obviously, campaigns -- even losing ones -- aren't cheap.

Among the expenses listed on FEC reports for the four Nevada candidates: copiers, coffee mugs, candy, catering, printing, postage, parking, pizza, flights, flowers, hotels, "hardware" (for signs), shipping, staff salaries, taxes on salaries, travel, T-shirts (Porter spent $746 on shirts -- Gov. Kenny Guinn donned one -- five days before the election), and telephones (Berkley paid more than $4,300 in phone bills in the final few weeks).

But mostly candidates buy advertising.

Ensign, who waged the most expensive campaign, paying roughly $12.61 per vote, wrote the single largest check of the election season: $234,501 to Las Vegas-based public relations company FFE Associates on Oct. 25.

Ensign spent a total of $2.5 million on television commercials during the course of his campaign.

"Obviously, you spend 75 percent of your media budget in the last four weeks of a campaign," said Ensign strategist Pete Ernaut, a partner in FFE. "You either budget well and have enough left to do that, or you're scrambling."

Bernstein paid Washington-area based Media Strategies Research $198,000 between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27.

Porter paid Las Vegas-based DRGM Advertising $145,000 between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, mostly for television and radio ads.

Berkley in the final days of the campaign wrote checks for $57,496 for direct mailings; $33,625 for polling; $35,000 for other ads; and $25,000 for a voter contact program.

Berkley pointed out that the candidate-filed FEC reports do not include money spent by outside interest groups, a few of which paid for commercials that were critical of her. Berkley sent her 15-year-old son to stay with relatives in California during the final weekend of the campaign, when political attacks were flying on Las Vegas airwaves. She repeated calls for campaign finance reform.

"The money that came in from out-of-state in the last three weeks (of the campaign) was disgraceful," Berkley said. "There are no rules dictating how these special interest groups spend their money or what they say in these ads. I don't think the American public is going to stand for much more."

By comparison, the Nevada races were relatively cheap. For instance, New York Senate candidate Hillary Clinton spent more than $40 million total. New Jersey Senate candidate and millionaire Jon Corzine spent more than $60 million.

All told, House, Senate and presidential candidates spent more than $1.6 billion in the 2000 election cycle, perhaps $3 billion when spending by outside groups is added, according to Citizens for Responsive Politics.

The guaranteed big winners in campaigns are usually the broadcasters who last year took in between $800 million and $1 billion, said Vidya Krishnamurthy, spokeswoman for Alliance for Better Campaigns, a Washington group that advocates free air time for candidates.

"It absolutely spikes in the last few weeks," Krishnamurthy said. "When TV stations get their FEC licenses, it's basically a license to print money."