Boxer, Feinstein Hold Edge in Funds : Senate: Reports show the two Democrats ending primary races with healthy surpluses. Their GOP rivals are in debt.

Widely regarded as favorites and riding a wave of momentum after the Democratic National Convention, California U.S. Senate candidates Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein enjoy a substantial fund-raising edge over their Republican opponents, according to recent financial records released Tuesday.

Boxer, a San Francisco-area congresswoman, had $316,850 in her campaign treasury through June 30, while the campaign of her Republican counterpart, Bruce Herschensohn, appeared to be struggling financially.

Herschensohn reported that his campaign was $473,173 in debt. He outspent Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Palo Alto) by more than $400,000 in the final weeks of a grueling Republican primary for the six-year seat being vacated by Sen. Alan Cranston.

In the race for the two-year Senate seat, Feinstein had $451,456 available to spend. Sen. John Seymour’s campaign was $5,802 in debt.

“Let’s face it, it’s tough to raise money when the polls show you are behind. . . ,” USC political scientist Larry Berg said of Herschensohn and Seymour. “I think there are an awful lot of people who are convinced this is the year of the woman. (Boxer and Feinstein) are reaping the benefits of that.”

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior associate at the Center for Politics and Policy at Claremont Graduate School, said the campaign reports “send a very important message for women candidates and that is that they can raise money. Money is a sign of electability.”

The financial reports do not include money raised by Boxer and Feinstein from national women’s groups during the Democratic Convention in New York, where the two candidates succeeded in raising their national profile and padding their campaign treasuries.

Nor do they include the $2.5 million in donations that Seymour and Herschensohn are virtually guaranteed of receiving from the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. The Democratic Party hopes to provide similar amounts to Boxer and Feinstein.

The records reveal that Boxer pulled off her primary upset last month despite being heavily outspent in the final weeks by Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy.

Levine spent $2.2 million in the six-week period between May 14 and June 30, far ahead of the $1.3 million spent by McCarthy and $922,436 by Boxer. In all, Levine spent close to $7 million to finish third in a three-way race. That amounts to $11.79 per vote--more than 2 1/2 times the amount spent by his opponents.

“Obviously, I would have preferred it had it been a lower dollar amount per vote,” Levine said. “This was not the result we intended.”

Levine, who entered the race with the reputation of a prodigious fund-raiser, collected $7.2 million in mostly large contributions. He made two personal loans to his campaign, one for $200,000 in December and another for $500,000 in the days before the election.

Boxer stunned her competitors by gathering $5.6 million in total receipts, much of it from 50,000 small donors who each gave under $200 to her campaign.

The grass-roots effort continued in the final weeks of the primary campaign, when candidates traditionally rely on large donors to give them a last-minute boost. Boxer raised $422,967 from small donors and $357,912 from large-donor supporters who contributed more than $200.

But while she tapped an impressive small-donor market, Boxer also relied more heavily on political action committees than either of her opponents. In the six-week period leading up to June 30, she collected $184,508 in PAC money compared to $68,330 by McCarthy and $58,050 by Levine. Much of this money came from women’s organizations.

The only other Senate candidate to crack the $5-million barrier in fund raising was Campbell, who outspent Herschensohn by more than $1.3 million in the primary, but garnered 68,484 fewer votes.

Campbell’s fund-raising prowess forced the Herschensohn campaign to spend more than $1 million toward the end of the primary election. Only Levine and McCarthy spent more during that period.

The dogfight with Campbell appears certain to hurt Herschensohn in the early months of the general campaign. The former television commentator had only $64,392 on hand and owed $537,566.

Herschensohn spokesman John Allan Peschong noted that the finance reports do not include money raised in the last three weeks. He said he did not know the amount Herschensohn had raised in that period.

Like Herschensohn, Seymour may face an uphill battle in matching funds raised by his opponent. Feinstein had $572,877 with only $121,421 in debts. By comparison, Seymour had $265,561 on hand and $271,363 in debts.

“I always expect that a sitting Republican senator who has ties to the incumbent governor and the incumbent president has the ability to raise all the money that he needs,” said Kam Kuwata, Feinstein’s campaign manager. “Having said that, I’m rather surprised he is not showing a better cash report.”

Throughout the primary, Seymour established a track record as a competent fund-raiser with $4.8 million collected, a figure slightly higher than the $4.5 million raised by Feinstein.

However, Seymour spent $600,000 more than Feinstein to defeat an underfunded primary opponent in Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who lost by nearly a 2-1 margin.

Despite loaning his campaign $1.17 million, Dannemeyer finished with $456,402 in debt and only $13,357 cash on hand.

The financial reports underscore the difficulty former Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono faced in getting his campaign off the ground. With $347,785, Bono was the only one of the 10 major Senate candidates in the primary to collect less than $1 million. His campaign finished with $123,918 in debts and $2,376 cash on hand.

U.S. Senate Fund Raising

Campaign fund-raising and spending documents filed by candidates for California’s two U.S. Senate seats were released Tuesday. The reports, covering May 14 through June 30, are an indicator of a candidate’s ability to finance an expensive statewide campaign: SIX-YEAR SENATE SEAT

5/14 to 6/30 Total Total Cash/ Candidate Expenditures Receipts Expenditures Debts* DEMOCRATS Boxer $922,436 $5,611,301 $5,244,484 $316,850 Levine $2,282,926 $7,204,465 $6,898,179 $(543,712) McCarthy $1,328,306 $2,983,943 $2,849,679 $54,332 REPUBLICANS Campbell $622,485 $5,057,936 $4,751,797 $(90,432) Herschensohn $1,072,551 $3,510,560 $3,446,167 $(473,173) Bono $65,213 $347,785 $345,408 $(121,542)

Cost per Candidate Vote** DEMOCRATS Boxer $ 4.10 Levine $11.79 McCarthy $3.19 REPUBLICANS Campbell $6.01 Herschensohn $4.31 Bono $.86

TWO-YEAR SENATE SEAT

5/14 to 6/30 Total Total Cash/ Cost per Candidate Expenditures Receipts Expenditures Debts* Vote** DEMOCRATS Davis $719,092 $2,612,879 $2,389,441 $123,937 $2.52 Feinstein $807,829 $4,510,548 $3,937,671 $451,456 $2.35 REPUBLICANS Dannemeyer $373,528 $3,211,283 $3,197,926 $(443,045) $5.98 Seymour $580,383 $4,792,347 $4,526,786 $(5,802) $4.10

NOTE: Total figures are for Jan. 1, 1991, to June 30, 1992, covering spending in the primary election.

* Cash on hand minus unpaid bills. Figures in parentheses are negative.

** Cost per vote includes total spending (expenditures plus debts) divided by votes received.

Compiled by Times researcher Murielle Gamache