Abercrombie race
raised the ante

The congressman's race for
re-election is believed to be the
first million-dollar House
campaign in Hawaii

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- He had promised a big-bucks re-election effort this year, and recently filed spending reports show Neil Abercrombie delivered, running what observers believe was Hawaii's first million-dollar House campaign.

The Honolulu Democrat raised and spent nearly $1.1 million in his 1998 campaign, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission here. The reports cover contributions and expenditures through Nov. 23, 20 days after the election.

Abercrombie's spending was slightly more than twice that of his Republican rival, former state Rep. Gene Ward.

Despite polls suggesting a closer race, Abercrombie trounced Ward, winning 62 percent of the vote.

Ward yesterday suggested a relationship between his loss and Abercrombie's spending. He said he did not have the money to counter the incumbent's numerous and "misleading" television ads.

"For every one ad I put out, he had three," said Ward. "The guy Abercrombie beat wasn't Gene Ward; it was the guy he painted on his TV ads. The perception became the reality, and the price of the perception wasn't something I could compete with."

Ward was able to raise about a quarter-million dollars during the last month of the campaign, but that was not enough to counter Abercrombie, he said.

Abercrombie had promised since his near defeat in 1996 to be a more aggressive fund-raiser, in part to counter speculation that he was vulnerable.

The $1 million figure became a target after Quentin Kawananakoa, then a Republican state representative, announced he was challenging Abercrombie and said he would run a $1 million campaign.

Kawananakoa later dropped out of the race, citing medical reasons, but by then the bar had been raised.

Abercrombie said his spending might have set the standard for future competitive congressional races in Hawaii.

"I don't see any way around it," he said.

"There was some skepticism that I could raise that kind of money," he said. "Anybody thinking about challenging me has to be aware of that now."

As in the past, the bulk of Abercrombie's money (about two-thirds during 1998) came from political action committees, with labor unions offering particularly generous support.

Abercrombie also received $16,000 from 18 Democratic House candidates from across the nation.

Those candidates included Nancy Pelosi and Loretta Sanchez of California, Bobby Rush of Illinois and James Moran of Virginia.

Ward was able to tap into similar support from Republicans, raising $14,500 from such GOP candidates as Newt Gingrich, Jennifer Dunn of Washington and Ernest Istook of Oklahoma.

According to his FEC report, Ward's campaign finished about $44,000 in debt.

The Abercrombie-Ward contest made Hawaii's other House race look like a campaign for water commissioner.

Incumbent Democrat Patsy Mink spent only $204,000 in her successful re-election campaign.

And her Republican challenger, Carol Douglass, spent just $8,000.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, meanwhile, spent about $1.2 million in a campaign with no serious competition.

His Republican opponent -- Crystal Young, a newcomer to the political scene -- did not file a final campaign statement, but previously had reported spending $37.

Inouye captured 79 percent of the vote.