ELECTIONS / SENATE : At $6.3 Million, Huffington Sets Spending Mark

Rep. Michael Huffington has set a new record for campaign spending, contributing $6.3 million of his personal fortune to his Republican bid for the U.S. Senate, according to finance records released Thursday.

National political observers said Thursday they believe that Huffington’s tally is the most personal money ever spent by a candidate in a Senate primary. Huffington (R-Santa Barbara) already held the record for the most personal money ever spent on a House race when he financed almost all of the $5.4 million bill in his 1992 House race.

“That’s not really a lot when you consider the size of the state of California,” said Bob Schuman, Huffington’s campaign manager. “(Sen.) Dianne Feinstein has spent over $30 million since 1990 and we will never, in the course of this campaign, match her spending.”

Feinstein’s campaign has maintained a low profile through the spring with no major Democratic challengers to draw her out before the June 7 primary. She has been diligent, however, in attending fund-raisers coast to coast.

Between the time she took office and last week, Federal Election Commission records indicate that Feinstein raised about $5.5 million. The former San Francisco mayor added almost $1 million more to her coffers last Friday when President Clinton headlined a Beverly Hills fund-raiser.

Both candidates have spent most of their money already. Feinstein reported that about $2.5 million remains in her campaign account; Huffington has about $1 million.

At this pace, the race could be headed for another record as the most expensive Senate contest in history, especially since the fall election is certain to be more of a pitched battle than either candidate has seen in the primary.

Feinstein campaign officials said that they expect to be outspent by Huffington.

Huffington’s fortune, from the sale of his family’s Texas oil-and-gas company, has helped him become the front-runner among the Republicans. The bulk of his spending has gone into statewide television commercials.

Huffington has outspent his nearest Republican rival, former Orange County Congressman William E. Dannemeyer, almost 20 to 1, according to the Thursday reports. Dannemeyer’s campaign has cost about $350,000, including at least $55,000 from his own pocket.

Huffington’s campaign released a new television commercial Thursday that attacks Feinstein’s record on crime.

The ad asserts that Feinstein voted to release 18 convicted killers while she served on a state parole board and that her support for the death penalty is a politically inspired flip-flop.

A problem for Huffington’s campaign, however, is that Feinstein is in her third consecutive statewide campaign and many of the attacks have been tested before.

Appointed Sen. John Seymour, whom Feinstein defeated in 1992, also broadcast a television commercial about Feinstein’s record on the five-member state women’s parole board, where she served from 1960 to 1966.

In the 1990 race for governor, Pete Wilson attacked Feinstein for her death penalty opinion. Feinstein acknowledges that she opposed the death penalty in the 1960s, but changed her mind before 1973 when she served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and cast a controversial vote in favor of a capital punishment plan.

“That was over 20 years ago,” said Kam Kuwata, Feinstein’s campaign manager. “To imply that it was for political advantage . . . I guess if you have a lot of money you don’t care about lying.”