Senate contests costly, caustic

WASHINGTON -- Money and mud are flying in the final days of nine close contests that will determine which party controls the Senate next year.

Democratic and Republican party committees, along with outside groups from the National Rifle Association to the League of Conservation Voters, are flooding airwaves and mailboxes with last- minute appeals. The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to spend about $70 million, all told. Its Democratic counterpart will spend $67 million, $5 million of it borrowed.

Candidates are digging into their own pockets for the final push. Democrat Erskine Bowles put $1.8 million into his campaign against Republican Rep. Richard Burr in North Carolina. In Colorado, Republican beer magnate Pete Coors put $500,000 into his battle with Democrat Ken Salazar.

In the 34 Senate seats up for election this year, candidates, parties and outside groups will spend $600 million, says the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money. The nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute said Thursday that major- party candidates raised more money than in any previous Senate election -- an average of $4.8 million by mid-October. That's at least 50 percent more than the $3.2 million they raised in 1998, the last time the same seats were contested.

There's so much money that some can't spend it. In Alaska, home to a dead heat between Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Tony Knowles, the Republican Main Street Partnership was told there was no more TV time to buy -- even though there are no presidential ads running there. The centrist group wanted to run pro-Murkowski TV ads but had to settle for $200,000 in print ads and phone calls.

The situation is similar in other states where President Bush is far ahead but Senate races are close. While health care, jobs and other domestic issues have dominated Senate candidates' stump speeches, television, radio and direct mail have been full of personal attacks and counterattacks.

In Louisiana, where Republican Rep. David Vitter could win a majority and avoid a runoff against one of two Democrats, the Democrats' Senate committee has spent $1.5 million in ads attacking Vitter; the GOP Senate committee has funneled $1 million into ads portraying Democratic Rep. Chris John, Vitter's leading opponent, as a liberal.

In Florida, the Senate candidates have quarreled over who is tougher on terrorism. Democrat Betty Castor, running against Republican Mel Martinez, has been forced to defend her handling of a terrorism suspect on the faculty of the University of South Florida during her tenure as president there.

The theme of most close races, Democratic spokesman Brad Woodhouse says, has been "the candidates and their foibles, stumbles and faux pas." Among last-minute maneuvers as both parties seek a majority in the Senate, now controlled 51-48 by Republicans:

-- Alaska. The Democratic-leaning Citizens for a Strong Senate is running ads that attack both Sen. Murkowski and her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski, for doing nothing to bring down health care costs. The spots are a reminder that Lisa Murkowski got her job when her father appointed her to fill his Senate seat after he was elected governor.

-- Kentucky. After all but writing off state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, the Democratic Senate committee is pumping in $1.3 million and is running an ad depicting GOP Sen. Jim Bunning as "out of touch." Bunning's Republican allies struck back with innuendo about the unmarried Democrat's sexual orientation. State Senate President David Williams called him "limp-wristed."

-- Oklahoma. The anti-tax Club for Growth has run an ad attacking Rep. Brad Carson as a puppet of liberal Democrats in Washington and has spent more than $1 million to help Republican Tom Coburn. The nastiest exchanges have centered on charges that Coburn, a physician, committed Medicaid fraud and sterilized a woman against her will. Coburn has said he did nothing wrong.

-- South Carolina. Republican Rep. Jim DeMint has watched a 12- point lead over Democrat Inez Tenenbaum shrink over his support for a 23 percent national sales tax and his comments that gays and unmarried pregnant women should be barred from teaching in public schools. The slide led the Republican Senate panel to send $1.3 million for ads painting Tenenbaum as a liberal.

-- In South Dakota, Republican challenger John Thune has made an issue of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's wife, Linda, accusing the senator of "personally profiting" from her job as a lobbyist for drug companies. The charges prompted Democrats to spend $600,000 on ads, despite Daschle's pledge to spurn help from outsiders.

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