Rep. Michaud leads money race in 2nd District

Message and money go hand in hand in a political campaign’s final days, and if the most recent finance reports are any indication, Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud at least has more of the latter.

Michaud, serving his first term as the 2nd District congressman, had spent nearly $950,000 in his re-election bid, banking about $325,000 going into the final weeks of the campaign, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission late last week.

His Republican challenger, Brian Hamel, had spent about $233,000, leaving about $260,000 in reserve, based on the latest FEC report, which runs through Sept. 30.

One key difference between the campaigns appears to be the amount spent on television advertising. Michaud bought $325,000 worth of air time in the district’s three media markets: Bangor, Portland and Presque Isle. Hamel spent roughly $35,000 in the past three months in the Bangor and Presque Isle markets.

While Michaud has been running ads in the southern part of the district for weeks, Hamel only days ago launched his first ad in the Portland market, which includes the 2nd District’s largest city, Lewiston. Analysts and past election results suggest Republicans must perform well in the Democratic leaning city to win the seat.

On Monday, the Hamel campaign issued an appeal to supporters for $60,000 in order to keep the ads running in the expensive southern Maine market. If not, the appeal warns, the campaign could “go dark” in the final week, leaving Michaud’s message unchallenged on the airwaves.

“We are now at the point where we have to dig down to make change happen,” reads the email authored by Hamel campaign manager Ben Golnik.

The finance reports come in the waning days of the campaign, as Hamel tries to erase what polls say is Michaud’s double-digit lead in the contest.

At this stage in the 2002 race, Michaud’s Republican challenger, Kevin Raye of Perry, had raised about $732,000, with more than $200,000 left in the bank. Raye, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, received substantial help from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which gave $80,000 to his campaign.

While the prospect of picking up an open seat loosened the NRCC’s purse strings early in the 2002 contest, thus far in 2004 the committee has invested in races elsewhere.

“But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to,” NRCC spokeswoman Caryn McLeod said of the prospect of financial support for the Hamel campaign.

“It’s still a race we’re still watching,” continued McLeod, although acknowledging that the committee had not reserved any television time to run ads on his behalf, considered by many to be an indicator of a race’s competitiveness.

The NRCC has provided support of a different kind, namely weekly news releases blasting Michaud for what it calls his lackluster tenure.

In the state’s other congressional contest, 1st District Rep. Tom Allen had raised about $711,000 so far in his re-election bid, according to the FEC reports. The incumbent Democrat had about $410,000 left in the bank as of the Sept. 30 deadline.

Allen’s Republican challenger, Charlie Summers, had raised a total of $345,000 and had about $67,000 in reserve, based on the FEC reports.