Blaine House hopefuls take stock of war chests

AUGUSTA – Republican gubernatorial candidate Chandler Woodcock reported a larger cash balance than Democratic incumbent Gov. John Baldacci in campaign finance reports filed Wednesday with the state.

Woodcock reported $138,689 in cash as of the late-October report closing date. That compares to $44,484 in cash reported by Baldacci through the Oct. 26 closing date. Reports covering contributions, spending and cash were due Thursday at the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

Baldacci, who is raising campaign money privately, leads in overall contributions with more than $1.2 million as of Oct. 26.

Woodcock, who is getting campaign money through the taxpayer-funded Clean Election system, has received nearly $1.1 million in disbursements, the ethics commission said.

The figure exceeds the $880,285 received by each of the other two publicly funded candidates, Green Independent Pat LaMarche and independent Barbara Merrill.

The latter two candidates are getting less than Woodcock because he was a target of advertising by political groups outside the gubernatorial campaigns saying he should not be elected.

LaMarche reported $73,767 in cash on hand, while Merrill reported $287,691 in cash as of the end of the reporting period.

While reporting more than a quarter-million dollars in cash, the Merrill campaign also announced Wednesday that it was sidestepping “10-second sound bytes” in the remaining days of the campaign and purchasing half-hour programs to get Merrill’s message to voters.

LaMarche, meanwhile, claims she’s due more Clean Election money to offset spending by the Maine Democratic Party and the Republican Governors Association for television ads that appear to promote Baldacci and Woodcock.

LaMarche’s campaign brought the claim before the state supreme court earlier this week. She is appealing an ethics commission ruling. The appeal focuses on state rules that say outside advertising more than 21 days before an election will trigger matching funds for publicly funded candidates if the ads “expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate.”

The supreme court is expected to rule quickly on LaMarche’s expedited case.

On the Net: Maine ethics commission: http:///www.maine.gov /ethics/