Out-of-state money fueling MN Senate race
Jon Gordon, 5/24/96

People responding to a new Minnesota Public Radio-St. Paul Pioneer Press-Kare 11 poll are evenly split on whether they favor Rudy Boschwitz or Paul Wellstone for U.S. Senate.

The poll suggests former Commerce Commissioner Bert McKasy might not fare well against Boschwitz in the September primary. McKasy is favored to win the Republican party's endorsement for U-S Senate, but Boschwitz says he'll enter the primary anyway. The poll says Boschwitz holds a commanding lead over McKasy, and shows most people across the state have never heard of McKasy.

McKasy is also behind in fundraising. Minnesota Public Radio's Jon Gordon has been looking at the major U-S Senate candidates finances, and finds two office seekers are attracting significant support from out of state.

POLLS ARE ONE THING. BUT AT THIS STAGE, MINNESOTA'S U-S SENATE CANDIDATES ARE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE.

[enter Lyle Lovet signing "That's uh mmm-o-ney baby m-o-n-e-y]

HISTORY SHOWS OFFICE SEEKERS WITH THE MOST MONEY HAVE A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING. THERE ARE MANY NOtable EXCEPTIONS OF COURSE: WELLSTONE'S VICTORY OVER BOUSCHWITZ IN 1990 FOR EXAMPLE. BUT THIS TIME AROUND, IT'S WELLSTONE WHO'S RAISED THE MOST MONEY - MORE THAN THREE MILLION DOLLARS SINCE JANUARY OF 1995, ACCORDING TO THE LATEST DATA FROM THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION. BOSCHWITZ HAS RAISED A LITTLE LESS THAN TWO MILLION. MCKASY RAISED A MERE 200-GRAND.

A NOTEABLE FIFTY-SIX PERCENT of BOSCHWITZ'S CONTRIBUTIONS OF AT LEAST TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS FROM INDIVIDUALS CAME FROM OUTSIDE MINNESOTA. FOR WELLSTONE IT'S 47 PERCENT FROM BEYOND THE STATE BORDER. U-S SENATE RACES ALWAYS ATTRACT MORE MONEY FROM NATIONAL INTERESTS THAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONTESTS BECAUSE A SENATE SEAT IS SEEN AS A BIGGER PRIZE. BUT TONY RAYMOND, WHO WORKED AS AN ANALYST AT THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION FOR 18 YEARS, SAYS THE NON-MINNESOTA MONEY ALSO INDICATES A BATTLE THAT NO ONE'S TAKING FOR GRANTED.

"It looks like it's going to be a tightly contested race and therefore there are natinal interests wanting to get involved and spend the dollars there." I think the Republicans probably see Senator Wellstone's seat as possibly vulnerable so they're interested in pouring in as much resources as they can and resource means fundraising so it makes sense."

MCKASY IS GETTING ALMOST NO MONEY FROM OUTSIDE MINNESOTA - INDICATION THAT THE NATIONAL PARTY ESTABLISHMENT DOESN'T SEE HIM AS A VIABLE CANDIDATE.

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AMONG THE VERY RECOGNIZABLE NAMES WHO'VE CONTRIBUTED TO SENATOR WELLSTONE IS STEVEN SPIELBERG, PRODUCER OF 'E-T' AND OTHER BLOCKBUSTER MOVIES. THERE'S OTHER LIBERAL HOLLYWOOD TYPES SUCH AS BARBARA STREISAND, JACK VALENTI, DAVID GEFFEN AND NORMAN LEAR. BOSCHWITZ'S INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR LIST IS A WHO'S WHO OF BUSINESS - INVESTMENT MANAGER CHARLES SCHWAB, CURT CARLSON, TED DEIKEL OF FINGERHUT, AND SPORTS TEAMS OWNERS CARL POHLAD AND GLENN TAYLOR. UNIVERSIYT OF MINNESOTA POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR FRANK SAURAF SAYS THERE'S NO SUPRRISE HERE - THESE ARE PARTS OF BOSCHWITZ' AND WELLSTONE'S NATURAL CONSTITUENCIES.

"The entertainment industry has classically supported Democratic and liberal Democratic candidates. Rudy Boschwitz's voting record is what I would call mainline business Republicanism and he's going to get money from mainline business Republicans."

SOME PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN MONEY TO MORE THAN ONE CANDIDATE. A ROCHESTER FOOD COMPANY EXECUTIVE CONTRIBUTED TO BOTH MCKASY AND BOSCHWITZ. TWO FORMER TOP EXECUTIVES OF WEST PUBLISHING HAVE GIVEN MONEY TO THE DEMOCRAT WELLSTONE AND THE REPUBLICAN BOSCHWITZ. ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR NANCY ZENGALE SAYS SOME PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTE TO ALL THE MAJOR CANDIDATES - REGARDLESS OF IDEOLOGY - ARE TRYING TO HEDGE THEIR BETS.

"Giving contributions to candidates generally doesn't guarantee they are going to vote in a particular way - almost vertainly doesnt guarantee that - but it does provide access to the candidate or to the elected official once they are elected and so uh I think when people are giving money to multiple candidates they want to make sure that whoever is elected they will have access to, in other words to try to get in the door and persuade them to their point of view."

THE U OF M'S FRANK SAURAF CAUTIONS AGAINST EXTRACTING MOTIVE FROM CONTRIBUTOR LISTS. HE SAYS GIVING TO MORE THAN ONE CANDIDATE IS OFTEN A LESS CYNCIAL ACT THAN SOME WOULD BELIEVE.

"The kinds of motives, the kinds of spurs to giving money - some people just give money because influential people ask them. A lot of wealthY individuals for example are in a kind of a giving network. They may have causes of their own. Mr X who gives widely may be hitting up people for his favorite charity, perhaps a medical charity of some sort. He's a part of a network, He's gotten money from people - those people in turn ask him to give to their candidate. He finds it hard to say no. You can develop all kinds of scenarios."

CANDIDATES DON'T GENERALLY LIKE TO APPEAR BEHOLDEN TO THEIR FINANCIAL BACKERS. THAT'S ONE REASON BOSCHWITZ AND WELLSTONE ARE WORKING HARDER THIS TIME AROUND TO ATTRACT SMALLER CONTRIBUTIONS OF UNDER 200 DOLLARS. FEDERAL LAW DOESN'T NOT REQUIRE SMALL DONORS TO REVEAL THEIR NAMES.

MCKASY IS GETTING LITTLE MONEY FROM THE BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT, WHICH HAS ESSENTIALLY CHOSEN BOSCHWITZ AS THEIR MAN. BUT A PARTY ENDORSEMENT WOULD MEAN MCKASY GETS THE KEYS TO THE REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISING MACHINE - SOMETHING THAT WOULD HELP MCKASY FILL HIS COFFERS A LITTLE MORE.

JON GORDON, MINNEOSTA PUBLIC RADIO