Feinstein Leads Handily in Money Race

In sharp contrast to her last race for reelection, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has far outdistanced all of her current rivals in campaign fund-raising, according to Federal Election Commission reports released Monday.

Just six weeks before the March 7 primary, campaign finance disclosures show that Feinstein raised $1.9 million in the last half of 1999 and $4.5 million in all. After expenditures, Feinstein still reported $2.6 million on hand as of Dec. 31.

By contrast, all her Republican rivals, except front-runner Rep. Tom Campbell (R-San Jose), have raised barely enough money to run a race for the state Legislature. And even Campbell’s fund-raising numbers show that most of his money was transferred from his congressional reelection committee.

Records show that Campbell raised $521,000 in the last half of 1999; with $921,000 from his congressional committee, he had $1.26 million after expenses.

But figures not due in Monday’s report suggest that Campbell could become a formidable fund-raising opponent to Feinstein if he is the eventual GOP nominee. In January alone, according to his campaign, Campbell raised more than $240,000--almost half the amount he collected in the last six months of last year.

Those figures eclipsed the funds reported by the other two main Republican challengers.

State Sen. Ray Haynes of Riverside, who once predicted he could win the GOP nomination if he could raise $1 million in contributions, reported collecting only $71,308 in the last six months of 1999 and a total of $98,103 for his entire campaign. After expenditures, Haynes reported only $5,833 left in his coffers as of Dec. 31.

San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn reported raising $103,715 in the last reporting period and $193,436 since launching his campaign last year. Were it not for having lent his campaign $300,000, Horn would have reported only a few hundred dollars on hand as of the end of December.

Commenting on the disparity in fund-raising between Feinstein and her rivals, veteran GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum observed that the difference signals the clear advantage incumbents enjoy in collecting contributions.

“Campbell is in a position where he has more money than his opponents but not enough to make a huge impact before the primary,� Hoffenblum said.

Although Campbell and Horn each pledged to run television ads before the election and Haynes said that remains a possibility, it was clear that this Senate primary will come and go without the media blitz California voters have come to expect.

Six years ago, the eventual GOP nominee for Senate, then-Rep. Michael Huffington of Santa Barbara, saturated the airwaves weeks before the primary after spending more than $6 million of his own money on his campaign. Huffington, who narrowly lost to Feinstein in the general election, eventually spent nearly $30 million, and Feinstein $14 million, in what became the most expensive Senate race in history.

Elsewhere, FEC reports showed the following Monday:

* A flood of contributions from across the country have helped Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) take a lead in campaign fund-raising over state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) in the contest for Rogan’s 27th District seat.

Rogan reported raising $2.96 million through Dec. 31, including $408,000 from political action committees, compared with $1.13 million raised by Schiff.

Jason Roe, a spokesman for Rogan, said 30% to 40% of the contributions came from out of state.

But Rogan’s national fund-raising effort has been costly, leaving him with just $1 million in cash at the end of 1999, only $300,000 more than Schiff had.

* In the 25th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Howard P. “Buck� McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) reported raising $295,362 last year, and having $237,755 on hand.

The only other GOP candidate, Lancaster tax consultant Hal Brent Meyers, has not reported raising more than $5,000, the minimum required for disclosure, but said he has put $30,000 of his own money into his campaign for the primary.

Democrat Sid Gold, a physician, reported raising $11,578.

* In another local congressional race targeted by Democrats, the politically centrist 36th District in the South Bay, Rep. Steven T. Kuykendall (R-Rancho Palos Verdes) ended the year with $248,000 in the bank, his report showed.

First-termer Kuykendall, anticipating a tough reelection, started raising--and spending--campaign money almost as soon as he took office. Throughout 1999, he collected $437,780, all but $131,086 of it during the first half of the year.

By contrast, Kuykendall’s predecessor and likely opponent in the fall, former Rep. Jane Harman, reported $98,522 on hand by year’s end. Harman, however, did not decide to enter the race until December. Her fund-raising that month brought in $73,944, which she added to the $34,534 that she had remaining in her campaign kitty. She spent $9,956 of that.

Both candidates have primary challengers for their party’s nomination--Republican Robert Pegram is running against Kuykendall, while there are two other Democrats on the ballot: James Cavuoto and Farshad Rastegar. But political observers expect a Kuykendall-Harman matchup in the fall that will be one of the most widely watched in the nation.

The district will be a key battleground in the fight to control Congress, where Republicans now have a five-seat majority.

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Times staff writers Jean Merl and Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report.