PA. ATTY. GENERAL Hopefuls report spending $5M total
Most of the spending was for the GOP primary.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The five candidates in Pennsylvania's 2004 primary races for the Republican and Democratic nominations for state attorney general spent a total of more than $5 million, according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday.
The bulk of the spending was in the Republican battle between Tom Corbett, the GOP-backed candidate who won the nomination, and Bruce Castor Jr., a well-financed insurgent who spent more than any other candidate in either race.
Corbett, a former U.S. attorney for western Pennsylvania, reported spending $1.2 million in the most recent reporting period, which covers the two weeks before the April 27 primary and three weeks afterward. That brought his total spending for the year to $1.6 million. At the end of the reporting period on May 17, he had slightly more than $45,000 on hand and debt that totaled $25,000.
Castor, the Montgomery County district attorney, spent almost $2 million on his campaign, including nearly $887,000 in the last period alone. He was left with about $51,000 in cash and debt that totaled $385,000, according to his report.
Democrats
On the Democratic side, Jim Eisenhower spent the least -- $430,000 -- to win a three-way race. Most of his expenditures came during the latest reporting period, and the Philadelphia lawyer emerged from the primary with $12,000 on hand and $40,000 in debt, according to his report.
John Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney, almost tripled his spending total -- to more than $630,000 -- during the last reporting period. He wound up in second place, with $1,620 in cash and $15,000 in debt, according to his report.
The third-place finisher, David Barasch, said his advisers were still working on his report as Thursday's deadline loomed. The former U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania's middle district estimated that he spent more than $500,000 on his campaign. He said he had less than $5,000 left and that his biggest debt is a $30,000 loan from himself made during the last week of the campaign.
Others unopposed
The Democratic and Republican candidates for the other statewide row offices -- state treasurer and auditor general -- were unopposed in the primary.
Robert P. Casey Jr., the Democratic nominee for treasurer and the incumbent auditor general, raised $288,000 in the latest reporting period, pushing his cash on hand to $310,000. His Republican foe, Jean Craige Pepper of Erie, had not finished her report Thursday afternoon, a spokesman said.
State Sen. Jack Wagner of Pittsburgh, the Democratic nominee for auditor general, raised $143,000 in the last period, expanding his war chest to $201,000. Joe Peters of Scranton, the Republican nominee, reported $84,000 in recent contributions, $38,000 cash on hand and $7,000 in debt.