In Georgia Senate race, millions spent on attacks

If money could talk, the money fueling the U.S. Senate race in Georgia is doing a great deal of badmouthing.

The campaign finance records available so far show millions of dollars spent on negative advertising. Records scheduled to be released in the next week will almost certainly reflect more money pouring into a bruising fight between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn. Some Democrats think the race is one of the nation’s best opportunities to convert a red seat into a blue one.

Nunn and Perdue hope to replace Saxby Chambliss, a Republican. Libertarian Amanda Swafford also is running for the seat, but in campaign finance terms, her official fundraising -- donations of $7,683 through June -- pales in comparison to Perdue and Nunn’s campaigns.

Direct donations to the candidates’ campaigns reflect only a time period through the end of June. That’s just after Perdue came out the winner through a challenging Republican primary and a tight Republican primary runoff. Nunn easily shrugged off three primary challengers, collecting about three-quarters of the vote.

Nunn’s campaign reported it picked up $9.2 million in direct contributions through June while Perdue’s campaign drew $5.8 million.

But another $8.6 million has poured into the race from political action committees, which make what are called independent expenditures. The great majority of all that money has been spent against Nunn.

The entirety of outside support for Nunn came at the end of September from Georgians Together, which was formed explicitly to support Nunn. Her opposition came from three groups, each of which spent more than $1 million: The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Ending Spending Action Fund and the National Rifle Association. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Ending Spending plans to put up another $2 million against Nunn before Election Day.

In total, independent expenditures in opposition to Nunn was some $5.4 million, compared to about $410,000 in support. For every single dollar Nunn got in outside support, about $12 was spent against her.

Perdue attracted far less outside spending, but it was much more positive. He drew more than $1.5 million in support and less than $1.3 million in opposition. For every single dollar Perdue got in outside support, just 83 cents was spent against him.

It’s harder to know how direct contributions have fared, because the report that covers the last several months -- since the primaries wrapped up and the general election race really got started -- isn’t due until Oct. 15. Because of that, the contribution reports don’t reflect money that likely was dumped into the general election race when it became a Democrat-Republican brawl.

Only a portion of that money, contributions over $200, is a matter of public record. About two-thirds of Nunn’s money, some $6.3 million, came from about 7,200 larger donors, a Telegraph analysis shows. About three-quarters of Perdue’s money, $4.5 million, came from those larger donors.

Through June, Perdue had a bit more than half as many donations as Nunn, but they were worth more in total. Perdue got $3.9 million from Georgia to Nunn’s $3.3 million. The average Georgian gave Nunn $811 but gave Perdue nearly twice as much -- $1,744.

From states other than Georgia, Perdue brought in about $520,000 in total. Nunn got much more than that from both New York and California. Perdue’s fundraising broke the $100,000 mark only in Tennessee, at $106,850. Nunn also received more than $100,000 in donations each from Washington, D.C., Illinois, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia.

A Telegraph analysis of donations by ZIP code suggests Nunn’s donors were an average of 474 miles from downtown Macon, while Perdue’s donors were an average of 160 miles away.

Donations from other states are certain to swell the campaign coffers of Nunn and Perdue when newer reports are released.

Perdue, for example, was the beneficiary of a National Republican Senatorial Committee fundraiser last month in Washington, which was hosted by nine senators, including both of Georgia’s. Nunn this month was one of the beneficiaries of a Seattle fundraiser hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, according to The Sunlight Foundation.

Charles Bullock, the head of the political science department at the University of Georgia, said attention shifted several weeks ago away from Georgia, where Democrats thought they had a good chance to move a seat to their camp. Now, attention may be more focused elsewhere.

But recent polling has suggested a close race.

“When polls come out showing a contest being evenly divided, it leads to increased expenditures,” Bullock said.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.

This story was originally published October 11, 2014 at 9:35 PM with the headline "In Georgia Senate race, millions spent on attacks ."