If this were an old-style governor’s race, where candidates relied on the kindness of strangers to finance their campaigns, Democrat Jerry Brown would be doing pretty well.
According to finance reports released Monday, he’s raised more than $9.7 million in campaign funds since Jan. 1, dwarfing the $1.1 million in outside contributions Republican Meg Whitman took in or the measly $94,000 Steve Poizner managed to collect.
But those numbers don’t mean a thing in an era where a thick bankroll – and a willingness to spend it — is far more important to a would-be candidate than a gold-trimmed political resume.
Sure, Brown raised nearly $10 million, but Whitman wrote herself a check for$20 million in January, on top of the $19 million she already had put in her campaign. And while Poizner could only find a relative handful of folks to contribute to his campaign, the $19.2 million of his own money he dropped into his run for governor last year saved a bunch of fund-raising time.
For years, reporters and consultants have been able to look at campaign finance reports, check to see how much money each candidate had in the bank and make a pretty good guess about what the various political advertising budgets were going to look like come election day.
Back in the day, it might have meant something to see that the unopposed Brown had $14 million cash on hand, while Whitman only showed $4.4 million in the bank with 10 weeks to go in what’s going to be a hotly contested GOP primary.
But Whitman’s spending better than $2.5 million a week in TV advertising and shows no sign of stepping on the brakes. Just this week the former eBay CEO started sending anti-Poizner mailers out, to go along with her continuing radio ads. Don’t be surprised to see the billionaire dip into her petty cash drawer in the next few weeks and drop another $20 million or so into the campaign kitty.
While Poizner has $14.8 million available to throw at Whitman in the final two months plus of the campaign, he’s wealthy enough to add millions to that war chest if he thinks it can carry him to a win in June.
And whomever wins that GOP primary will be expected to come up with millions more of their own money for the fall campaign.
This isn’t anything new. Four years ago, Steve Westly spent around $36 million in personal funds to lose the Democratic primary for governor. The winner, Phil Angelides, “only” put up $1.9 million of his own money. Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, the eventual winner, wrote $5.5 million in checks to his own campaign.
In 2002, Republican Bill Simon spent $23 million in his unsuccessful attempt to keep Gov. Gray Davis from winning re-election. In 1998, Al Checchi and Jane Harman each spent more than $10 million – way more, in Checchi’s case – to lose the Democratic primary for governor.
The Supreme Court has ruled that there is no legal way to limit the amount of money a candidate can spend on his or her own campaign. With the cost of running for office soaring in a sprawling, media-centric state like California, that means candidates who can pay for their own campaigns are increasingly attractive to political parties short on cash.
Schwarzenegger and other self-funded candidates have argued that there’s something intrinsically cleaner about using their own money instead of relying on contributions from special interests, typically defined as anyone who gives your opponent money.
Buying into that argument, though, means that only multi-millionaires need apply when it comes to running for high office, which doesn’t fit the “any boy can grow up to be president” ethos that has been part of the country for so long.
This year though, Whitman is taking the self-financed campaign to never-before-seen heights. As of March 17, she already had burned through better than $56 million for the June 8 primary, with plenty of spending still to come. If she follows through with her promise to spend $150 million on her run for governor – and rides that money train to victory – expect to see an increasing clamor across California for something to level the financial playing field.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.