Posted on: Saturday, October 23, 2004
Incumbent Case outspending Gabbard
| • | Vying for that rural seat in Congress |
By Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Rep. Ed Case and Republican challenger Mike Gabbard have spent more than $120,000 combined for TV, radio and mailers to get their messages out to 2nd District voters in a final push before Election Day.
Total raised through Oct. 13: $632,349 Money raised between July 1 and Oct. 13: $244,601 Cash on hand: $126,434 Loans through Oct. 13: $0 Total raised through Oct. 21: $398,817 Money raised between July 1 and Oct. 13: $144,342 Cash on hand: $179,601 Loans through Oct. 13: $20,416 Since July, Case has outspent Gabbard, $147,009 to $79,982, for advertising and related items.
Records show Gabbard has $179,601 cash on hand, compared with Case's $126,434. But Case enjoys some perks as the incumbent, including more name recognition in the district and stronger overall fund-raising in a largely Democratic state.
Gabbard, in an e-mail response to questions, wrote that he is trying to draw more people to his Web site because he lacks the money to pay for more TV ads.
"I'm trying to meet as many people personally by going door-to-door and holding meetings and so forth, but we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people," Gabbard wrote.
Case also is working to get voters to turn out. "We're moving around and staying in touch with people," Case said. He complained that Gabbard might be underreporting how much he has spent on TV and statewide mailers. Case also said he was concerned that contributors who could not easily be identified made large donations to Gabbard. Under the law, candidates must disclose the names of donors who contribute $200 or more.
FEC spokesman George Smaragdis said that a campaign-spending complaint had been filed against Gabbard by Alex Achmat of Hawi on the Big Island. "The law requires that this matter be confidential," Smaragdis said. "All I can say is we have received a complaint."
Gabbard denied any wrongdoing. He wrote that anyone giving more than $200 to his campaign signed a form confirming that they, in fact, made the contributions from their own funds.
Case, a Democrat in his first full term, spent $80,149 on advertisements across the state in the first 13 days of October, compared with Gabbard's $47,265 in spending during the same period, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
BY THE NUMBERS
Rep. Ed Case (D)
Mike Gabbard (R)
