The two finalists in the race for citywide council District 1 spent $6,876 in 2001, a race Dave Knecht won handily. This year Stewart and Sumsion spent $38,972.96.

The race for the northeast council seat cost $450 in 2001, when Paul Warner ran unopposed, and about $10,800 this year, when Warner lost a narrow race to grandmother and Brigham Young University student Cindy Clark.

The contest for the downtown seat wasn't close for incumbent Cindy Richards either year, but she and her final opponents combined to spend $2,886.22 in 2001 and $19,328.84 this year.

All three races were more expensive in 1997 than 2001, but the 2005 spending still more than doubled the '97 levels.

Richards spent nearly $14,000 in part because she thought the race might not be the blowout it was and because a political action committee spent nearly $3,000 against her.

"That's where the spending had to go," she said. "I had an anonymous group working for change through anonymous mailers. We thought we could get the message out on foot, but when the mailers came out, it was so late we knew we had to use mailers to respond."

Stewart felt the same about spending $22,513 on his citywide victory.

"I don't know how you run a competitive citywide race for less than that," he said. "If you didn't have serious competition, you could probably do it for less."

In fact, he felt like he scrimped and saved: He recycled some signs he used when he successfully ran for mayor in 1993, didn't pay a dime for campaign staff or newspaper ads and put up nearly all of his own signs. He sunk his money into additional signs and banners and two mass mailers to 12,000 people, everyone who voted in the city elections in 2001 and 2003.

"Each mailer cost $3,200 to print and mail," he said. "A citywide race is five times as big as a district race. You're mailing to five times as many people."

Clearly, the 2005 election will live on in 2006 as the council wrestles with campaign finances and considers tinkering with its election ordinances.

"There isn't a lot we can do other than limit contributor donation," said Dayton, the council chairwoman. "I think it's something we need to discuss and I'd like to see us do that in the future."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com