Gibbons way ahead of curve on spending

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

Rep. Jim Gibbons has spent $2.38 million on his campaign for governor since Jan. 1, according to his campaign treasurer. The sum demonstrates an astounding fundraising ability while raising some Republican eyebrows about where the money is going.

Since releasing a campaign finance disclosure report to the media last week showing $2 million in spending, the congressman from Reno has paid $340,000 for TV and radio advertising and for mailers to arrive in Republicans' mailboxes before the Aug. 15 primary, his treasurer, David Turner, said.

That major buy is a sign Gibbons is taking no chances with his Republican opponents, state Sen. Bob Beers and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt.

All Nevada campaigns have to file finance reports with the secretary of state by Tuesday.

The Gibbons campaign has spent nearly $1.2 million on advertising, although a small portion of that has gone for production and consultant expenses. Gibbons has also shelled out about $645,000 for staff and consultants.

The campaign, which has raised more than $4 million, still has more than $1.6 million on hand. Gibbons raised about $1.3 million since January, 20 percent from the gaming industry, 17 percent from developers and construction companies and 15 percent from doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

Chuck Muth, a longtime Republican operative who has trained campaign consultants and managers, said he advises campaigns to spend 80 percent of their money on direct contact with voters, meaning advertising and outreach.

Gibbons spent about half his money on advertising.

Robert Uithoven, Gibbons' campaign manager, said the Gibbons team has built an infrastructure for finding their voters and getting them out for the primary and the fall election.

"Building campaigns has become very sophisticated," Uithoven said. "There's a lot of technology involved in identifying voters. It's time-consuming, expensive work finding those motivated voters, finding out what issues are important to them."

For example, Uithoven said, much money has been invested in finding voters whose primary concern is hunting and fishing rights and license fees. Once found, they must be brought to the polls.

"The voter ID efforts we've been working on the last year are now being carried out," he said.

Greg Ferraro, a Republican consultant and lobbyist, said he's not surprised by the spending. He said the state's population growth has driven up the cost of finding and communicating with voters.

Mark Montini, who trains Republicans to manage campaigns and runs the Web site campaignsecrets.com, said debate continues about whether campaigns should husband their resources until the end or spend money upfront.

It goes back to 1996, when President Bill Clinton, on the advice of the consultant Dick Morris, spent millions in the early months of 1996, and effectively ended the campaign.

That strategy is more exception than rule, Montini said. He said he always asks campaigns which they would want in a war - a gun on the first day, or a nuclear bomb on the last?

Since 2004, though, Montini said, there's a new school of thought. Republicans' get-out-the-vote effort, which took months to build, is credited with delivering a victory. That has persuaded many Republicans to spend a lot on field staff early on, for electoral dividends later.

That's precisely the Gibbons strategy, Uithoven said.

Muth, who's not working for any of the campaigns, isn't buying it: "You spent $2.4 million, you lose 30 points in the polls, and you spent the money on infrastructure before the primary? OK. It's a nice spin anyway."