Official party candidates in governor’s race close gap in campaign funding

AUGUSTA – As the race for governor enters the home stretch, the three official party candidates inched closer to each other Tuesday with individual campaign war chests approaching or exceeding $1 million.

Gubernatorial hopeful John Baldacci continued to lead all other candidates with a little more than $1.1 million in total cash raised through Sept. 17. But he remained a distant third in the critical area of available cash on hand, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday.

Peter Cianchette, a South Portland Republican, raised $274,693 during the filing period, including a $50,000 loan to himself. Cianchette’s total contributions up to Sept. 17, including loans, were listed at $927,512 with about $131,000 in cash on hand. Baldacci, a Bangor Democrat, raised about $195,000 during the same filing period and reported $44,000 in cash on hand.

“Fund-raising is obviously a challenge,” said Donna Gormley, Baldacci’s campaign spokeswoman. “People are limited to what they can contribute, since many have already given. So it challenges us to reach out to people who we haven’t reached out to before.”

“This is a much different race than it was a year ago,” said Roy Lenardson, Cianchette’s campaign manager. “We’ve made good progress and we’re outraising John Baldacci. I think we’ll both be right in the $1.5 million range before it’s through.”

Meanwhile, Green Independent Party nominee Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township was only about $14,000 shy of reaching his maximum allocation of $902,615 as a publicly funded candidate. Carter received disbursements of $560,000 during the filing period, bringing his total to about $889,144. Officials at the state’s Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices said it was possible Carter would receive the remaining $13,471 this week in matching funds after Cianchette’s and Baldacci’s reports are reviewed. Carter spent $670,775 during the filing period and reported $116,746 in cash on hand.

John Michael, the fourth candidate in the gubernatorial race, is an Auburn independent who acknowledged Tuesday he had raised and spent no money since the last reporting period ended in mid-July. At that time, Michael had contributed $2,800 to his own campaign, bringing total contributions to $7,638 with $370 in cash on hand.

“No one knows what kind of money John Michael can come up with when it’s necessary,” Michael said in his customary third-person reference to his campaign. “I’m certainly putting a lot of energy into it from a personal standpoint.”