MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on the expensive Minnesota's U.S. Senate race.
The latest campaign spending reports confirm that Minnesota's U.S. Senate race was by far the most expensive in the state's history. The race, considered one of the most competitive in the nation, ended with Republican Norm Coleman defeating former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mondale entered the race after DFL Senator Paul Wellstone died 11 days before election day. In total, Mondale, Wellstone and Coleman raised nearly 25 million dollars.
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TOM SCHECK: Former Vice President Walter Mondale and DFL Senator Paul Wellstone raised $15.1 million between them in the Senate race. Wellstone officials report that the late Senator raised $12.5 million before his death. The campaign for Walter Mondale says the former Vice President raised $2.6 million in the 10 days leading up to the election. Mondale's son, Ted, says 19,000 people nationwide gave money to the campaign.
TED MONDALE: People felt that this was a very important race. I think also from the outpouring of support for Senator Wellstone and the grief that I think a lot of his donors turned around and donated. Obviously, my father has a broad network of folks who know him and like him and would have liked to have him back in the Senate.
TOM SCHECK: Mondale says the campaign has about a million left on hand, but expects to have about $600,000 left after it pays off several bills. He says the remainder will be given to state institutions, charities, and other worthwhile causes. Wellstone's campaign had $58,000 on hand, but expects thousands more when TV stations reimburse the campaign for ads that never ran.
Senator elect Coleman's campaign didn't release their campaign finance summary, but spokeswoman Leslie Kupchella says the campaign raised a total of $9.6 million through November 25. She declined to talk on tape for this report. Gustavus Adolphus political science Professor Chris Gilbert says President Bush helped Coleman in the final month of the campaign. He says Bush's popularity and support of Coleman mobilized Republican donors.
CHRIS GILBERT: It was a smart strategy. And again, President Bush is at the core of it. His ability to really rally the Republican faithful to support the causes and find the candidates who will support what the president wants, that's very significant.
TOM SCHECK: Coleman, Wellstone, and Mondale's combined total of $24.7 million, easily exceeds the $17.8 million fundraising record in the 2000 Senate race between Rod Grams and Mark Dayton. Four candidates in Minnesota's Congressional contests also spent millions. Republicans John Klein and Mark Kennedy raised less than their DFL opponents but still won.
Klein raised $1.3 million to DFL incumbent Bill Luther's $2.1 million in Minnesota's second district. Kennedy raised 1.7 million to Janet Roberts $2.1 million to win Minnesota's sixth district. Robert loaned $1.6 million of her own money to the campaign. The Wisconsin advertising project says the Twin Cities ranked third in the amount of money spent on political ads between mid-September and election day.
The group analyzed political advertising in the nation's 100 top media markets. Joel Rivlin, senior researcher with the project, says political ad buys were only higher in Boston and Denver. He says candidates and special interest groups ran 13,636 political ads in Minnesota's Senate race. He says in all state races, 18,000 political ads were purchased between mid-September and election day at an estimated cost of $18 million.
JOEL RIVLIN: This was certainly one of the target races for a lot of the outside spenders.
TOM SCHECK: Rivlin says the Republican leaning group Americans for job security, United Seniors Association, which is backed by the pharmaceutical companies and the Democrat leaning afl-cio, were the top three special interest groups to spend money in Minnesota's Senate race. He says those groups were also the three top spenders nationwide. Rivlin says Minnesota bucked a traditional Norm when Coleman, Kennedy, and Klein won on election night. He says the candidates that run more ads and raise more money usually win.
JOEL RIVLIN: The candidate who's typically ahead finds it easier to raise money, and it's not that the money actually buys them the victory, but it's easier for them to have more money in their pocket because they're better able to go to donors and ask for money. And secondly, money does help at the margins.
TOM SCHECK: Rivlin says Democratic candidates, their parties, and interest groups spent more money on television ads than their Republican counterparts, both state and nationwide. I'm Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio.