Cranston Camp Has $1.5 Million for 1986

Democratic U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston reported Thursday that he has raised $1.5 million for his 1986 reelection effort, most of it from individuals. The amount is far more than that raised by any of his potential Republican opponents.

“We are much farther ahead in fund raising than we were at this point in previous campaigns,” Cranston said in a telephone interview.

Cranston, who was first elected to the Senate in 1968, said federal spending reports filed Wednesday will show that he raised $1,254,991 between January and June of this year. He also raised $283,929 in 1984 for the Senate race. Currently, Cranston said, the campaign’s “cash on hand” is $1,050,555.

“I had 20,000 individual contributors,” Cranston said.

Of those, 1,090 were listed as “major contributors,” people who gave an average of $500 each, for a total of $542,000. Another 10,500 individuals gave Cranston a total of $247,000 after direct-mail appeals, and a telephone marketing effort raised $135,000 from 8,000 people.

The $1.5-million total also included $320,000 from political action committees and $17,500 from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Federal law permits individuals to give $1,000 in the primary campaign and $1,000 in the general election. The limit for political action committees is $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general election.

Among Cranston’s possible Republican opponents, Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge reported that she had raised $518,088 as of June 30. Almost $300,000 of that was transferred from her House campaign fund, according to Fiedler’s top aide, Paul Clarke.

“We raised $221,000 in new money,” Clarke added.

Assemblyman Robert W. Naylor of Menlo Park has raised $265,437 for his Republican Senate effort since last September. Republican state Sen. Ed Davis of Valencia raised $226,071, all of it since Jan. 1 of this year.

Republican Rep. Daniel E. Lungren of Long Beach, who also has expressed some interest in the Senate race, had raised $79,000 by June 30, according to his fund raiser, Jackie Campbell.

Other Republicans exploring a race for the Senate are Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich; Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton; Los Angeles television and radio commentator Bruce Herschensohn and Rep. Ed Zschau of Los Altos. All these campaigns, plus that of the declared candidate, economist Arthur Laffer, were in the exploratory stage as of June 30 and did not file fund-raising figures with the Federal Election Commission.

Cranston also said on Thursday that he plans to resume holding community forums around California later this month.

“We’ll talk about what we discussed at previous forums this year--tax reform, the budget, the deficit,” Cranston said. “We will also take up the subject of crime. I think it is important that citizens learn how they can help law enforcement officials in combating neighborhood crime.”