Five Articles out of 1100 the Providence
Journal has written mention Chris Young. Is
this a Free Press?
|
Chris Young stated, "At least John Mulligan, the only Journalist in Rhode Island, had
the integrity to mention me, the only candidate other than Chafee who has run for the
U.S. Senate before."
People: Brown, Matthew, Burgess, Matt, Chafee, Lincoln, Rothenberg, Stuart,
Laffey, Stephen P
Author(s): JOHN E. MULLIGAN Journal Washington Bureau
Section: News
Publication title: The Providence Journal. Providence, R.I.: Feb 4, 2006. pg. A.01
Source type: Newspaper
ProQuest document ID: 982891581
Text Word Count 1286
Document URL:
http://0-proquest.umi.com.helin.uri.edu:80/pqdweb?did=982891581&sid=15&Fmt=
3&clientId=16240&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Abstract (Document Summary)
[Lincoln D. Chafee] -- with an incumbent's head start of several years -- had raised
about $2.46 million for his reelection by Dec. 31, including a personal loan of
$330,000. He spent about $668,000 last year and had about $1.76 million in the
bank at the end of the year. Of that sum, Chafee's campaign said, more than $1.25
million is available for the primary. Chafee has also signaled that in order to hold his
seat, he will spend as much as necessary from his family fortune of more than $61
million.
COUNTING A PERSONAL LOAN of $360,000, Cranston Mayor [Stephen P.
Laffey] raised about $1.05 million last year. He spent about $223,000 and had
about $831,000 left in cash on Dec. 31. Of that sum, Laffey said he said $653,000
left for the primary.
Outside players complicate the picture on the Republican side. Like Brown in the
Democratic race, Laffey is a decided financial underdog. But his primary financial
picture -- so far at least -- is rosier than Brown's because Laffey has won the
endorsement of the Club for Growth, a national group that promotes tax cuts and
free trade. The club has already pumped $100,000 into broadcast ads and mailings
praising Laffey and attacking Chafee.
Full Text (1286 words)
Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Feb 4, 2006
Rhode Island's secretary of state is aggressively buying TV ad time in a risky strategy
to gain an edge in the Democratic Senate primary.
* * *
WASHINGTON - Democratic Senate candidate Matthew A. Brown -- whose
spending of $1 million easily led the pack last year -- has already tapped most of
what was left in his primary campaign account to buy television ads in 2006.
Brown's heavy spending is a dark-horse strategy to raise his profile, with the aim of
generating more contributions, his campaign acknowledges. But the approach carries
the risk that Brown will be too short on cash to compete with the deep pockets of
Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse through the homestretch run to September's primary
election.
"Our opponents have the political machine behind them, and Matt Brown is the
underdog in this race," said campaign spokesman Matt Burgess, arguing that Brown
became Rhode Island's secretary of state in 2002 by "running against the machine."
The aggressive spending "is setting Matt up to win again," he said.
Brown's gamble shows how the rare political spectacle of Rhode Island's 2006
Senate contest -- with fiercely expensive primary campaigns in both political parties
-- has posed a strategic challenge to the four best-financed candidates.
With his million-dollar outlay for such tools as early advertising and polling, plus the
canvassers and fundraising consultants on his payroll, Brown rivaled last year's
combined spending total of $1.28 million by former Attorney General Whitehouse
and incumbent Republican Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee.
By year's end, Brown was down to about $183,000 in the campaign account that he
is allowed to spend before the September primary -- not counting more than
$12,000 in legal and other debts, according to his report to the Federal Election
Commission.
In January, Brown poured about $167,000 of that balance into TV ads promoting
such stances as his opposition to the war in Iraq, Burgess confirmed. But he argued
that the investment is beginning to pay off, with cash contributions of about $200,000
so far this year, all but $10,000 of that total for the primary.
Burgess also acknowledged that Brown is looking for another payoff soon on the
intensive TV campaign -- a boost in his name recognition and popularity when
Brown University releases its latest political poll results later this month.
The candidate is betting that better poll ratings will beget better cash flow.
"IT'S A CRAPSHOOT," said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent campaign analyst
in Washington, "but it's not an unreasonable strategy." A high rate of early spending
and advertising is not the conventional campaign tack, nor often an advisable one,
Rothenberg said. "But Brown is a guy whose whole message, whose whole strategy,
is to be the insurgent. He's got to do something different."
Under a more orthodox strategy of stockpiling money for the big, late-summer push,
Rothenberg said, Brown "might never get on the map. Whitehouse could pound him
into the ground before anybody knows who he is."
All the same, Brown has posted "a phenomenal burn rate for someone who has a
September primary," said Senate campaign analyst Jennifer Duffy of the Cook
Political Report in Washington. "It might be the only strategy he's got, but it's pretty
high-risk."
The risk is stark, Duffy explained: "If your strategy is to spike polls" with TV ads,
"you've got to keep spiking," because the benefits of advertising tend to dissipate fast
when the candidate goes off the air. "So it means that he's got to keep spending" -- a
practice known in the trade as "churning money -- dollar in, dollar out," said Duffy.
WHITEHOUSE, MEANWHILE, reported a year-end primary spending balance of
about $1.25 million, counting a loan of $360,000 from his personal fortune.
Whitehouse campaign manager Mindy Myers noted that his fundraising has
outstripped Brown's at every quarterly milestone since he joined the race last spring.
"We expect another strong quarter" to begin the election year, she said. "Even under
their best-case scenario," she said of the Brown campaign, "we have six times the
amount of money they have for the primary."
Under federal campaign law, an individual can give a candidate a maximum of
$2,100 for the primary and $2,100 for the general election. When the partisan
primaries are uncontested, the difference becomes inconsequential. But this year in
Rhode Island, the often-obscure distinction is crucial, with Cranston Mayor Stephen
P. Laffey battling Chafee in a Republican Senate primary and Brown vying with
Whitehouse on the Democratic ballot Sept 12.
This year, the separate accounts for primary spending and general election spending
shape overall strategy.
Brown's campaign took in about $1.49 million last year and laid out about $1.01
million -- virtually all of it spent, by definition, on the primary. Brown had about
$481,000 in total cash on hand at the end of 2005, but $298,000 of that had been
contributed for the general election, so he cannot spend it unless be beats
Whitehouse in the Sept. 12 primary. If Brown loses to Whitehouse, he must return
his general-election donations to his campaign donors.
Whitehouse took in about $2.17 million, including his personal loan to the campaign,
and spent only about 612,000 in 2005, so the bulk of the $1.56 million he had in the
bank at year's end is available for use in the primary.
Chafee -- with an incumbent's head start of several years -- had raised about $2.46
million for his reelection by Dec. 31, including a personal loan of $330,000. He spent
about $668,000 last year and had about $1.76 million in the bank at the end of the
year. Of that sum, Chafee's campaign said, more than $1.25 million is available for
the primary. Chafee has also signaled that in order to hold his seat, he will spend as
much as necessary from his family fortune of more than $61 million.
COUNTING A PERSONAL LOAN of $360,000, Cranston Mayor Stephen P.
Laffey raised about $1.05 million last year. He spent about $223,000 and had about
$831,000 left in cash on Dec. 31. Of that sum, Laffey said he said $653,000 left for
the primary.
Outside players complicate the picture on the Republican side. Like Brown in the
Democratic race, Laffey is a decided financial underdog. But his primary financial
picture -- so far at least -- is rosier than Brown's because Laffey has won the
endorsement of the Club for Growth, a national group that promotes tax cuts and
free trade. The club has already pumped $100,000 into broadcast ads and mailings
praising Laffey and attacking Chafee.
The Senate Republican organization, meanwhile, has spent even more to praise
incumbent Chafee and to attack Laffey.
Laffey also has personal resources. During his career as a businessman, he amassed
a fortune that he has reported as totaling more than $3.3 million. But Laffey has not
announced any plans to spend his own money on the Senate campaign.
Democratic candidate Christopher Young has announced that he will not solicit
campaign contributions.
In the House of Representatives, Rep. James R. Langevin had $242,083 in cash on
hand at the end of the year. Langevin had raised a total of about $425,000 for his
election and had about $93,000 in debt from his 2004 campaign.
His Democratic primary opponent, Brown University Prof. Jennifer Lawless, had
almost $76,000 in the bank at year's end, having raised just over $105,000,
including $25,100 that she loaned her campaign.
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy had about $1.02 million in the bank at the end of the year,
with no declared opponent in sight.
Former state Rep. Rod Driver, an independent candidate for Langevin's seat, said he
has not reached the $5,000 in contributions that would require him to file a federal
report.
People: Whitehouse, Sheldon, Chafee, Lincoln, Laffey, Stephen P, Duffy, Jennifer
Author(s): JOHN E. MULLIGAN Journal Washington Bureau
Section: News
Publication title: The Providence Journal. Providence, R.I.: Jan 19, 2006. pg. B.01
Source type: Newspaper
ProQuest document ID: 972843641
Text Word Count 876
Document URL:
http://0-proquest.umi.com.helin.uri.edu:80/pqdweb?did=972843641&sid=15&Fmt=
3&clientId=16240&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Abstract (Document Summary)
[Jennifer Duffy] said the fourth-quarter receipts by Whitehouse and [Stephen P.
Laffey] were also noteworthy. Whitehouse entered the campaign last spring with a
$360,000 loan from his own fortune. Between April 1 and July 1, he scored the best
three-month showing in the field, with $782,000 in contributions. He led all comers
again in the third quarter, with about $603,000 in contributions. Counting his loan,
[Sheldon Whitehouse] raised more than $2.1 million last year. [Lincoln D. Chafee]
raised about $1.3 million last year, reports show.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already bankrolled TV ads
attacking Laffey. More quietly, the GOP Senate campaign arm has worked to
discourage conservatives from helping Laffey. One of the intriguing subplots of the
coming Republican primary contest will be Laffey's ability to win friends and money
-- notwithstanding the NRSC's campaign against him -- from conservatives who
differ with Chafee. Chafee is generally viewed as the Senate's most liberal
Republican.
[Brown] also had the highest "burn rate" in the field, having spent about $612,000 by
the end of the third quarter, compared to $448,000 for Chafee, $345,000 for
Whitehouse and $150,000 for Laffey.
Full Text (876 words)
Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Jan 19, 2006
Campaign finance reports show the Republican senator ended 2005 with $1.7
million in the bank, but his Democratic rival, Sheldon Whitehouse, is not far behind.
* * *
WASHINGTON - With the help of a $330,000 loan to his reelection fund, Sen.
Lincoln D. Chafee has logged his best fundraising quarter of the campaign, but
year-end reports will also show that Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse
easily led him in total contributions for 2005.
Chafee's campaign said he collected about $485,000 in contributions in the last
quarter of last year, finishing the year with about $1.7 million in the bank. But
Whitehouse, the former attorney general, has narrowed the incumbent's cash
advantage, raising a reported $415,000 in the same quarter, with about $1.55 million
in cash on hand.
Meanwhile, Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey took in $310,000 and finished 2005
with $830,000 in cash, his campaign said -- more than respectable for a Republican
primary challenger who did not join the race until September.
All in all, the 2006 Senate race is shaping up as Rhode Island's priciest on record,
with more than $6.8 million already on the table -- not counting last-quarter
contributions to Secretary of State Matthew Brown and businessman Carl Sheeler.
(Those Democratic candidates declined to release numbers to The Providence
Journal. Democrat Christopher Young, a newcomer to the race, has said he does not
accept campaign contributions. All registered candidates must file federal campaign
reports by Jan. 31.)
Chafee, who signaled last fall that he was prepared to dip into his $61-million-plus
family fortune to hold his seat, bounced back at year's end from a third quarter in
which he had trailed the pack with contributions of only $278,000. Chafee spent
about $185,000 in the final quarter, his campaign said.
"If I'm a national Republican strategist, Chafee's numbers force a sigh of relief in that
he's much more engaged in campaign mechanics" than he had appeared earlier, said
Jennifer Duffy, an independent analyst with the Cook Political Report in Washington.
"You can't run a campaign without the candidate," Duffy said, meaning that Chafee's
improved receipts seem to show more involvement in his own reelection --
something she sees reflected in a stepped-up regimen of appearances around the
state.
But Duffy said the fourth-quarter receipts by Whitehouse and Laffey were also
noteworthy. Whitehouse entered the campaign last spring with a $360,000 loan from
his own fortune. Between April 1 and July 1, he scored the best three-month
showing in the field, with $782,000 in contributions. He led all comers again in the
third quarter, with about $603,000 in contributions. Counting his loan, Whitehouse
raised more than $2.1 million last year. Chafee raised about $1.3 million last year,
reports show.
Whitehouse spent about $260,000 during the final quarter of the year, his campaign
said.
Financially at least, Laffey is on track to stage the toughest Republican Senate
primary fight in recent memory. Counting his own $360,000 loan, the independently
wealthy Laffey has raised just over $1 million, according to his campaign. (Not all of
that money can be used in the primary, but Laffey has earmarked his entire loan for
the September test against Chafee.)
By virtue of their loans to their own campaigns, Chafee, Laffey and Whitehouse are
all approaching a limit that would trigger the so- called millionaire's rule. That rule,
intended to restrain the ability of a wealthy candidate to pay for his or her own
campaign, gives the opponents a mechanism for raising extra money.
Laffey also has the endorsement of the Club for Growth, a group that advocates tax
reductions and has the wherewithal to pour significant sums into his campaign.
Chafee, of course, has the considerable advantages of incumbency - - including the
fundraising head start that netted him almost $670,000 by Jan. 1, 2005.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already bankrolled TV ads
attacking Laffey. More quietly, the GOP Senate campaign arm has worked to
discourage conservatives from helping Laffey. One of the intriguing subplots of the
coming Republican primary contest will be Laffey's ability to win friends and money
-- notwithstanding the NRSC's campaign against him -- from conservatives who
differ with Chafee. Chafee is generally viewed as the Senate's most liberal
Republican.
Despite his record of often voting against the president's wishes, the Bush
administration is on board with Chafee, too. Commerce Secretary Carl Gutierrez
headlined two campaign events for Chafee in Providence in October -- one for $500
a head and the other for $1,000 a head. Gutierrez' appearance was key to Chafee's
improved showing in the year-end financial sweepstakes.
Chafee has also benefited from interest groups and businesses that give through their
political action committees. By Oct. 1, he had raised more than $470,000 from
PACs.
On the Democratic side, Brown started out with a bang last year, raising about
$503,000 by April 1, much of it from abortion-rights supporters. His pace cooled
after that, particularly by comparison to that of Whitehouse. Brown raised about
$301,000 in the second quarter of 2005 and $402,000 in the third.
Brown also had the highest "burn rate" in the field, having spent about $612,000 by
the end of the third quarter, compared to $448,000 for Chafee, $345,000 for
Whitehouse and $150,000 for Laffey.