Culver, Branstad raise $16.2 million

Gov. Chet Culver and his challenger, former Gov. Terry Branstad, have raised $16.2 million -- about $1.8 million more than Iowa gubernatorial candidates raised four years ago.

Campaign finance reports released Oct. 19 show that Culver, a first-term Democrat, has raised $8.6 million and Branstad, who served four terms as governor, has collected $7.6 million. That tops the $14.4 million Culver and Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle raised in 2006. In that race, the candidates spent nearly $17.3 million.

“It's a lot of money,” according to Drake University political science professor Arthur Sanders, but not unexpected.

“I would have been surprised had either one had less than $5 million to $6 million,” the Ellis and Nell Levitt Distinguished Professor of Politics said.

Branstad and Culver each have enough that “whoever loses is probably not going to be able to claim they lost because of the money,” Sanders said. “They both have enough. They both have more than enough.”

The relevant numbers:

• Culver has raised $8.6 million in this election cycle -- $1.2 million in the July-to-October reporting period -- and has more than $500,000 cash on hand.

• Branstad has raised $7.6 million this cycle -- $2.1 million in the most recent quarter -- and has $842,369 cash on hand.

Although the campaigns have spent most of their money, both say they are in good shape for two-week sprint to Election Day, Nov. 2. In short, that means they will be able to buy all the cable and network television time they need to get their messages out to Iowa's 2,106,831 voters.

Although the Culver campaign has less cash on hand, campaign manager Donn Stanley said it's misleading because the campaign already has purchased television advertising through Election Day.

He accused Branstad of a “shell game” by putting off buying TV time to inflate his third quarter cash on hand numbers.

“Rest assured we have enough cash on hand and enough funds coming in the door to have more than enough to meet our network and cable television needs across the state,” Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said. “We're well-positioned.”

Both candidates received their greatest support from their parties' respective governors associations. Culver collected $2.1 million from the Democratic Governors Association and Branstad received $1,010,000 from the Republican Governors Association.

Branstad's fundraising numbers show his plans for job creation and cutting the cost of government are resonating with Iowans, according to his campaign manager, Jeff Boeyink.

“This support, along with our continued fundraising efforts, will allow us to run a strong, robust campaign through Election Day,” he said.

Culver said the totals will encourage his supporters who have seen Branstad hold a double-digit lead in polls throughout most of the campaign.

“I feel really good about that and proud of the fact I have so many Iowans who are confident we're going to win this race,” Culver said in Cedar Rapids. “I'm really excited about what that means to allow us to finish really strong down the homestretch.”

Recent polls show the race tightening, the governor said, claiming that in the past two-and-a-half weeks internal polls show he's gained 10 points with more than half of those polled willing to switch their votes.

“It's very fluid and people are breaking our way,” Culver said, adding there is a “big chunk of undecideds.”

That scenario is “laughable,” Albrecht said.

“Their campaign cooked up an internal poll it paid for and still couldn't get 40 percent,” he said. “Even in a poll weighted in their favor, he still only got 39 percent. If you're excited at 39 percent, your campaign has problems.”

Given the candidates' war chests, the argument will continue virtually uninterrupted until Nov, 2, Sanders predicted.

“In Iowa, if you have over $5 million you have enough to saturate the airwaves pretty much as much as you're likely to want to,” he said.