Campaign Spending to Set $2.6 Billion Record, Group Predicts
Campaign spending in the 2006 elections is on track to set a record of $2.6 billion, with Republican interests slightly outspending Democrats, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) said. With much of the money going to TV ads, the estimate is 18% higher than the 2002 midterm election’s $2.2 billion, the study said. AT&T ranked No. 4 among donors, giving $2.2 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings as of Sept. 11.
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“The cost of elections is going up,” CRP Acting Exec. Dir. Sheila Krumholz said, putting a $1 million estimated price tag for a challenger to oust a House member. The past 3 elections 97% of House incumbents won reelection, and 87% of senators stayed. Even in the 1994 election, when Republicans took control of Congress, 90% of House members won reelection, as did 92% of senators, Krumholz said.
AT&T was the only communications company on CRP’s list of 10 top donors. Others included unions, real-estate agencies, financial associations and trial lawyers. Verizon was 22 with $1.5 million; Time Warner, 30, $1.9 million; NCTA, 35, $1.3 million and Comcast, 39, $1.2 million. AT&T ranked 2 on a donor profile dating to the 1990 election cycle -- a rating that raised some eyebrows at the telco’s Washington office.
“That number is meaningless,” an AT&T spokeswoman said, calling it a “bit disingenuous” to lump in AT&T and other merged companies’ campaign data without explaining how the company changed. For many of those years, AT&T was a long- distance company with a different agenda from SBC, the telco that eventually acquired AT&T, she said. CRP provides a brief summary of AT&T’s merger history on its website listing the company’s campaign contributions.
“Are they not comfortable with their ranking?” asked a CRP spokesman when queried about the methodology behind the tally. AT&T and affiliates spent $36.5 million 1990-2006, CRP said, a sum AT&T called “meaningless.” Among communications companies, AT&T leads the pack, with Verizon, Time Warner, NCTA, Microsoft, Comcast and BellSouth following -- all giving $1 million or more, CRP records show.
Money is coming from the same industries that largely have financed previous campaigns, Krumholz said. “They're building on their influence now,” she said: “They're making an investment they hope will pay off once the 100th Congress takes office in January.” Republicans have gotten 58% of lobbyist donations, but Democrats can expect to start getting more money if they take control of one or both chambers.
With the campaign near its end, leadership political action committees (PACs) are racing to shore up vulnerable members of Congress, political analysts said. CRP expects PAC contributions to set a record this year as well. “PAC money is expected to break the $1 billion mark,” Krumholz said, citing a “sharp increase” due to changes in campaign finance laws that eliminated “soft money” contributions.