Huffington Says His Spending Tops $9 Million

Michael Huffington, the multimillionaire Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, reported Friday that he has spent more than $9 million of his own money in the campaign so far, closing in on another national record for political spending.

The federal campaign finance statements filed Friday also show that the freshman congressman from Santa Barbara has opened a wide financial lead over Feinstein, who is herself one of the top fund-raisers in Washington.

In all, Huffington’s campaign has totaled about $9.5 million, with all but about $300,000 coming from the candidate’s pocket. In contrast, Feinstein’s rigorous coast-to-coast fund-raising schedule, which started more than a year ago and has included two major events with President Clinton as host, has generated about $5.9 million in contributions.

Huffington spent almost all of his $9 million between Jan. 1 and June 30, the closing day of the report, while Feinstein has only spent about $3 million this year.

Huffington, whose fortune comes from his family’s Texas petroleum company, had been expected to spend more than Feinstein during the spring because he faced former GOP Rep. William E. Dannemeyer in the June 7 primary. He was also largely unknown in California and he needed extensive use of television commercials to make himself competitive with the well-known Feinstein.

But even when both campaigns unleashed their heaviest barrage of television commercials beginning in early June, Huffington maintained a sizable spending advantage over Feinstein.

In the six-week period covered by the latest reports, from late May through the end of June, Huffington spent more than $100,000 per day, compared to about $62,000 per day for Feinstein.

Since Jan. 1, Huffington’s campaign has averaged about $50,000 per day.

Huffington is currently about $1 million short of the national record for the most personal money ever spent by a candidate for Congress, according to Common Cause, a Washington-based watchdog group for campaign finance. That record was set in 1984 when Democrat John D. Rockefeller IV, scion of his great-grandfather’s oil empire, spent about $10.2 million from his pocket to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Huffington “has bragged that he will spend whatever it takes,” said Feinstein campaign manager Kam Kuwata. “People didn’t think earlier this year that he would spend $20 or $30 million (by November’s election), but when push has come to shove . . . he has basically spent $10 million (so far). And it is generally thought that candidates spend significantly more in the general (election) than they do in the primary.

“I could see him spending, out of his own pocket, more money than the combined total of (both candidates in) the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history,” he said.

That would be about $25.9 million, a record established in 1984 by the race between Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and then-Gov. Jim Hunt. Whether Huffington breaks that record by himself or not, most political observers expect that his race against Feinstein will make the record books.

Huffington has committed to spending a minimum of $15 million in his campaign and he has said the amount could exceed $20 million. Friday, Huffington’s campaign declined to comment on the finance reports.

“We think the numbers speak for themselves,” said Huffington campaign manager Bob Schuman. “I’m just not going to comment on them.”

Huffington, 46, already holds the record for the most expensive U.S. House race in history. In 1992, he more than doubled the previous high by spending about $5.2 million of his own money to unseat veteran GOP Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino.

In the Senate race, Huffington’s money has changed the race from an anticipated sure thing for Democrats into one of the nation’s most competitive contests.

In late May, when a series of statewide polls revealed that the race had become extremely competitive, political observers in California and Washington expressed shock. Both campaigns have been advertising on television almost nonstop ever since.

Earlier this week, in a breakfast meeting with reporters, Feinstein said her campaign wanted to respond to Huffington’s springtime television ads--most of which attacked her record in Washington--but did not have the money.