DAVID SKOLNICK \ Politics Will big money kick in for 14th District race?

A vow by Capri Cafaro's campaign officials to match the Republican incumbent in the 14th Congressional District race dollar for dollar could pose a problem for the Democratic challenger.
Cafaro, a member of one of the Mahoning Valley's wealthiest families, is challenging U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a five-term Republican incumbent from Concord Township, in what is considered the most competitive and expensive congressional race this year in Ohio.
Both have shown their prowess to raise money for the race but in different ways.
LaTourette's campaign fund, as of June 30, had $1,113,577, about half of it raised during the year's second quarter. LaTourette has the largest campaign fund of anyone running in Ohio for a U.S. House seat.
Cafaro, of Hunting Valley and formerly of Liberty, had a $307,888 campaign fund balance as of June 30, according to her latest financial disclosure report. The next filing deadline isn't until Oct. 15.
Cafaro is not shy about self-funding, having contributed $503,760 to her campaign since she entered the race. Of that amount, she gave $293,200 since March 3, the day after the Democratic primary, and June 30.
And that's the danger facing Cafaro.
A new wrinkle this year to the federal congressional campaign reform law is something called the "Millionaire's Amendment."
The new law applies if candidates give more than $350,000 of their own money to their general election congressional campaign. Cafaro is only $56,801 from exceeding that limit. If she goes over the $350,000 amount, LaTourette's donors can increase their contributions to him threefold under Federal Election Commission rules.
Individual donors are limited by FEC rules to $2,000 contributions to congressional candidates toward general election campaigns.
But if Cafaro goes over the $350,000 self-funding limit, then the "Millionaire's Amendment" kicks in, and LaTourette's donors can give him $6,000, three times the allowable amount, toward the general election, FEC rules state.
The only way to nullify that contribution increase is if LaTourette puts his own money into the campaign in an amount that makes the difference between his and Cafaro's self-funding amounts less than $350,000. That won't happen because LaTourette hasn't used his own money on any of his congressional campaigns, according to FEC records.
"As soon as a House candidate goes over that $350,000 amount, they must notify us and their opponent [within 24 hours], and then the other candidate can raise three times the normal limit," said George Smaragdis, a FEC spokesman.
The law was designed to help poorer candidates compete with rich ones. There's no doubt that Cafaro is richer than LaTourette, but the incumbent has more than $1 million in his campaign fund.
LaTourette grumbles that Cafaro is trying to buy the election and is forcing him to raise money. If that's so, LaTourette isn't taking it lying down. He's proven to be an outstanding fund-raiser.
If LaTourette keeps raising money, and he definitely will, Cafaro faces a very difficult decision.
Does she match LaTourette dollar for dollar by putting more of her own money into the campaign?
If Cafaro does that, it allows LaTourette to go back to donors who gave him their $2,000 general election maximum contribution and ask for another $4,000. That could further separate the two financially or leave Cafaro with no other choice but to pour about $1 million to $2 million of her own money into the campaign to keep up with LaTourette. Make no mistake about it, money is among the most significant factors in winning a congressional race.
If Cafaro opts not to exceed the $350,000 limit, she won't have the money to compete with LaTourette.
Cafaro almost completely self-funded her impressive Democratic primary victory.
She doesn't plan to do that during the general election.
Cafaro raised $104,035 during the year's second quarter. That's a very respectable figure, but it doesn't come close to the $566,116 LaTourette raised during the same time frame.
To keep up with LaTourette, Cafaro has to either considerably step up her fund raising or exceed the limit with her own money, which could prove to be extremely beneficial to the incumbent.
"We are aware of the Millionaire's Amendment," said Mike Cook, Cafaro's spokesman. "No decision has been made yet on whether we're going to enact it. In the event we do, we will hand-deliver a letter to our opponent's campaign office to make him aware of our action."