Challengers in Utah not spending, raising $$

WASHINGTON — With the July primary election in the rearview mirror, it's time for candidates to get down to the nitty-gritty of the general election campaign and spending their way to public office.

At least that's the traditional line of thought. But most of the challengers for Utah's U.S. House seats and one U.S. Senate seat haven't raised all that much money, and they've spent even less of it, reports filed Friday with the Federal Elections Commission show.

For example, from July 1 to Sept. 30, Steven Thompson, a Democrat who is challenging first-term GOP Rep. Rob Bishop, raised $35,987 — a negligible amount for a congressional race. And he spent only $31,000.

Bishop, on the other hand, raised $111,596 during the same period — $363,000 over the 2003-04 election cycle — and he's spent almost $290,000.

Bishop leads in the latest Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll by 31 points.

But there is no frugality evident in Utah's 2nd Congressional District, where two-term incumbent Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, raised $382,741 during the three-month reporting period. That goes along with the $1,067,279 he had in the bank on July 1, FEC reports show.

Matheson spent $948,785 during those same three months, distancing himself from Republican challenger John Swallow not only in money raised but in the public opinion polls, where Matheson leads by 32 points.

Matheson has been a fund-raising machine over the past two years, bringing in $1.6 million for his re-election bid.

To make matters worse for Swallow, Matheson still has more than a half-million dollars in his account as the campaign winds down toward the Nov. 2 election.

With a total of $388,356, Swallow actually raised more money than Matheson during the past three months, albeit only a few thousand dollars. His spending, on the other hand, came nowhere near Matheson's total, as Swallow only spent $224,688.

Changing priorities

The Republican challenger also has less money for the stretch run, with $378,161 in cash remaining. But it appears that some of Swallow's financial support is drying up, as the Club For Growth's cash, which has flowed abundantly to Swallow in the past, has slowed to a trickle.

As of Aug. 30, the Club, which is a pro-tax cut, pro-small-government group out of Washington, D.C., had funneled individual contributions to Swallow of $202,000. That was not an insignificant amount. It made up about a fourth of Swallow's contributions to that time.