Homestretch: We’ve Got Mail

An election that so far has been fought mainly over the airwaves dives into voters’ mailboxes this week as campaigns, unions and independent committees launch last-minute mail blitzes in hopes of steering the results of California’s historic recall race.

Some of the mailers, such as one planned by the state Republican Party, are simple requests to vote to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis without backing a specific candidate to replace him.

Others are sharper in tone, such as a California Federation of Labor anti-recall flier that includes a photograph of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger embracing his campaign manager, former Gov. Pete Wilson, and warning that a Republican victory threatens a rollback of union gains.

Candidates have employed mass mailings to varying degrees. Aides say the Schwarzenegger campaign has sent out more than 2 million pieces of mail, while state Sen. Tom McClintock will switch his spending to television after having sent out up to half a million mailers. Davis has done little direct mailing, and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante has avoided the tactic altogether.

Such diverse organizations as labor unions, Christian conservative groups, Native American tribes and the state Republican and Democratic parties are preparing a sophisticated series of mailings targeting supporters -- in some cases homing in on those who have not cast absentee ballots and who have a history of voting sporadically.

No one knows for sure how many mailers will be delivered by next Tuesday, but state Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland estimated that there will be a dozen statewide efforts augmented by local and regional campaigns as politically active organizations seek to rally their members.

“In some cases, voters will become targets for two or three groups,” Mulholland said.

Mailings vary in cost, depending on their size and printing quality, but some groups are sending out items in mass quantities for as little as 30 cents per item.

The Schwarzenegger campaign has already done two mailings on its own, and more are planned, said spokesman Rob Stutzman. He declined to detail what the campaign plans for the final week but said it has already sent out 2.25 million mailers urging Republicans to apply for absentee ballots, followed by a 500,000-piece “chase” mailing urging those who requested absentee ballots to use them.

“It’s a substantial and important part of our voter-contact program,” Stutzman said.

McClintock’s campaign has also sent up to 500,000 mailers to Republicans, and the conservative California Republican Assembly added its own mailing to back the conservative legislator’s effort. No more McClintock mailers are planned for the final week, though, as the campaign focuses on broadcast ads, said John Stoos, McClintock’s deputy campaign manager.

Of the major candidates, only Bustamante has done no mass mailing. Campaign manager Lynn Montgomery said the campaign opted for broadcast ads and trying to position Bustamante for news coverage.

“It’s more our limited resources -- there’s such a short amount of time to do what we need to do,” Montgomery said. “We’re trying to reach as many people as we can through the mass media.”

Similarly, Davis’ No on the Recall campaign has done little mailing on its own, letting allies such as labor unions and environmental and women’s groups contact their own people.

“We think it’s more effective for labor households to hear from labor leaders, and for women to hear from Planned Parenthood,” said Steve Smith, Davis’ campaign director.

The “no on recall” and “yes on Bustamante” themes are getting plenty of play in those outside mailers. The most extensive effort appears to be by California unions, led by the California Federation of Labor, which is sending at least six waves of mailers totaling 3 million pieces -- part of a $5-million labor effort to defeat the recall or, if unsuccessful, to elect Bustamante.

At least one mailer, which argues that replacing Davis with a Republican could hurt unions, is tailored to various groups.

“We’ve got one version for men, one version for women and another version for Latinos,” said communications director Nathan Ballard. “There are subtle differences based on what individual parts of the membership respond to.”

Part of the effort includes tailoring 115 versions of the ballot showing union members where to find the recall question and Bustamante’s name.

The replicas follow the confusing contours of the official ballot, in which the order of the candidates varies by Assembly district and the ballots themselves are published by county election officials. So voters on opposite sides of a county line but within a single Assembly district will encounter two different-looking ballots.

The California Teachers Assn. sent out 500,000 mailers that included an application for an absentee ballot, said Tom Conry, a CTA board member and a teacher in San Diego County’s Vista Unified School District. The California Federation of Teachers was more modest last week, sending a black-and-white flier to 65,000 members at a cost of about $20,000, said spokesman Fred Glass.

“For a membership organization like ours, what’s far more important is the shoe leather and joining phone banks around the state,” Glass said.

On a grander scale, two unions representing service-economy workers have joined in a $2.5-million campaign targeting mostly immigrant workers -- both union members and nonunion. Key to the campaign is a series of up to five mailings of 700,000 pieces each, at a total cost of up to $1 million, urging a “no” on the recall and a “yes” vote for Bustamante.

The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, and the Service Employees International Union, fear a GOP governor would cut health care, erode eight-hour-workday protections and freeze the state minimum wage.

“Our membership is largely immigrant and minorities, and just as our membership has huge issues in the balance, so does the expanded community that our membership comes from,” said HERE California political director Jack Gribbon.

Indian tribes with casinos have also gotten into the act. The First Americans for a Better California expenditure committee -- financed by $3.5-million from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and $400,000 from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego County -- has spent $1.4 million on at least two mailings urging Democrats to vote against the recall and for Bustamante.

The two tribes also teamed up to create Taxfighters for Tom McClintock, donating about $50,000 each for a mailer. Details on what the mailer says were not immediately available. Tribal officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

How much influence mailers have in an election is unclear, but strategists see them as a vital part of an overall effort to first persuade voters to back a candidate -- and then to vote.

“There are only a few ways of communicating directly with voters, where you know you’re talking to somebody who’s registered to vote,” said Gale Kaufman, a Democratic strategist in Sacramento. “You can knock on their door or call them on the phone or deliver a piece of mail to them.... It’s a very effective medium, and you can deliver more information than you can in a 30-second commercial.”

Mail campaigns tend to be used primarily by Democratic supporters, particularly unions with ready lists of members’ addresses, said Mike Vallante, the state Republican Party’s chief operating officer.

“It is usually the Democrats who have more specialized lists with the record they have with labor unions,” Vallante said. “They usually do a lot of mailing from the leadership to the membership.”

That doesn’t mean, though, that Republicans are ceding the tactic. Vallante said the state party was trying to raise about $200,000 to send out half a million last-minute mailers.

Planned Parenthood of California, meanwhile, spent about $35,000 on mailers to 70,000 supporters and Democratic women under age 40 in urban counties, urging them to oppose the recall and vote for Bustamante.

“We’re going with the theme that 20% of voters could choose our next governor, and it could be an anti-choice candidate,” said Justine Sarver, the group’s political director.

At least one mailer comes from outside California. The national Family Research Council, a Christian group based in Washington, D.C., has sent out 500,000 voter guides detailing the leading candidates’ positions on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, school vouchers and Proposition 13 -- all perceived to be hot-button issues for Christian conservatives.

“We believe that a lot of things that happen in California have repercussions back across the other 49 states,” said council spokeswoman Genevieve Wood.

*

Times staff writer Jeffrey L. Rabin contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*

Contributions race

*

These contributions were reported by major candidates on next Tuesday’s ballot who have received at least $100,000 for their campaigns. Totals are for all contributions through Sept. 20 and for contributions of $1,000 or more through Monday. Donations of $1,000 or more must be reported within 24 hours of receipt. Candidates may, but are not required to, report contributions on the weekend.

*--* Contributions Candidate or committee Total reported Reported Saturday through Monday Cruz Bustamante $4,319,771 $490,316 1,782 contributions 100 contributions

*--*

* The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians, which operates a resort and casino, contributed $21,200.* The tribe has already committed more than $4 million to other efforts in support of Bustamante. Another Indian tribe, the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, which operates a San Jacinto casino, contributed $21,200. The group previously gave $10,000 to Republican candidate Tom McClintock. Service Employees International Union, Local 660, which represents 50,000 state workers, gave $21,200.

Bustamante controls three other committees:

Californians for Stability is an anti-recall fund that has raised more than $431,000. Another is the Cruz Bustamante Committee Against Prop. 54, which has collected more than $4.8 million, most of it transferred from the Lt. Gov. Bustamante 2002 Committee, an old reelection campaign fund. That committee reported raising more than $917,000, excluding the transfers.

* The Northern Californian Carpenters political action committee contributed $50,000 to the anti-Prop. 54 fund.

*--* Contributions Candidate or committee Total reported Reported Saturday through Monday

Tom McClintock $1,475,173 $50,200 4,375 contributions 12 contributions

*--*

* The Barona Band of Mission Indians, which operates a casino in San Diego County, contributed $21,200. The Ventura County Republican Assembly gave $5,000. The Royal Electric Co. and a political action committee for the Western Electrical Contractors each gave $5,000.

*--* Contributions Candidate or committee Total reported Reported Saturday through Monday

Arnold $16,183,479 $3,085,000 Schwarzenegger 3,572 contributions 151 contributions

*--*

* Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and his wife, Nancy Daly Riordan, each contributed $21,200. Linda Lindhorm, a member of the Laguna Niguel City Council, contributed $21,200. Eleven car dealerships or their executives contributed more than $73,000.

Schwarzenegger also controls Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall, a pro-recall committee, which has raised more than $2.3 million.

* Schwarzenegger gave $500,000 to his pro-recall fund, raising his total contribution to more than $1 million. Real estate executive Alex Spanos gave $100,000, doubling his total to the fund.

*--* Contributions Candidate or committee Total reported Reported Saturday through Monday Davis Fights the Recall Californians Against $11,488,866 $1,582,768 the Costly Recall of the 886 contributions 53 contributions Governor

*--*

Gov. Gray Davis controls this anti-recall committee.

* The Democratic Governors Assn. contributed $300,000, raising its total support for Davis’ anti-recall efforts to $550,000. The Barona Indians contributed $200,000 and the California State Assn. of Electrical Workers, a union, gave $160,000. Telecommunications giant SBC gave $100,000.

Davis also continues to raise money through his former reelection committee, the Gov. Gray Davis Committee, which has transferred more than $1.9 million to Californians Against the Costly Recall.

A third committee, Taxpayers Against the Governor’s Recall, has reported more than $2.25 million in contributions.

*

Reported by Times staff writer Joel Rubin and Times researcher Maloy Moore.

Source: Campaign reports filed with the California secretary of state.

Los Angeles Times

*

*Contributions to candidates from each outside source are limited to $21,200. There is no cap on the amount candidates can give to their own campaigns, or on donations to non-candidacy committees.