12/24/2003

Cheney's visit helps lift Nethercutt past $1 million in campaign funds

KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune

Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday helped push George Nethercutt's U.S. Senate campaign over the $1 million mark, a milestone that could provide a further boost to the Spokane Republican next year.

Roughly 250 people cut checks totaling $320,000 for the chance to attend a Monday evening Nethercutt fund-raiser headlined by Cheney.

Before the fund-raiser, held at a Bellevue hotel, Cheney spoke to servicemen and women at McChord Air Force Base.

Nethercutt, a congressman, is running in 2004 for the Senate seat held since 1993 by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Shoreline).

At the end of the last reporting period, Murray held a commanding lead in fund raising, which is seen as an early indicator of a candidate's viability since it's expensive to air the television ads necessary to win statewide office.

When he entered the race in late July, Nethercutt said he expected to raise $10 million. As of Sept. 30, Murray's Senate campaign committee had $3.3 million in cash on hand, while Nethercutt had a combined $620,000 in his Senate and House campaign committees. He has since put all of that money into one account, since he's not running for re-election.

Reed Davis, a Seattle Pacific University political science professor who is challenging Nethercutt for the GOP nomination, had $3,480 in cash on hand at that time.

Nethercutt's Monday fund-raiser, for which tickets ranged from $500 to attend the dinner to $4,000 and $8,000 to have pictures taken with Cheney at a pre-reception event, will boost Nethercutt's tally to "well over a million in cash on hand next month," said campaign coordinator Mary Lane.

Murray's campaign said she would have more cash on hand than at the end of September, but would not be more specific.

Lane predicted: "We're going to catch up. We will meet her - if not dollar for dollar - then pretty darn close."

That's doubtful, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist who tracks races nationwide and regularly offers his take on them for a number of media outlets.

"You can guarantee that Murray will outspend Nethercutt," Sabato said, adding that Murray, as an incumbent, has a built-in fund-raising advantage.

The bigger question, Sabato said, is whether Nethercutt will have enough money to boost his name recognition west of the mountains, where residents are less familiar with him than the Spokane-area constituents he's served in Congress since 1995.

"My guess is that Nethercutt will have the money he needs to get his message out, in part because there are surprisingly few competitive (U.S. Senate) seats" to which high-level political action committees and donors will contribute, Sabato said.

It will help if Nethercutt's campaign committee meets Lane's prediction when it reports its tally to the Federal Election Commission next month, Sabato said, since that would be a respectable showing and could generate more national support.

President Bush personally courted Nethercutt to challenge Murray.

But state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt downplayed the White House's support, asserting that Bush and Cheney, who lost Washington during the 2000 election, are not popular among Washington voters.