Saxton still leads in race for money.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - Republican gubernatorial challenger Ron Saxton's fundraising continued on its record-smashing pace, adding $2.5 million in the past month to bring his total to $7.8 million, according to new financial disclosures released Thursday.

Meanwhile, Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski continued to lag behind his opponent in the race for campaign money - most of which goes for TV and radio ads. The governor reported contributions of $1.6 million for the most recent period, Sept. 22 to Oct. 22, giving him a total of $4.65 million in contributions so far.

The two candidates' financial reports made it clear that their hard-fought race has put them on their parties' national radars. Saxton raked in $1.25 million from the Republican Governors Association on top of the $364,000 it previously had contributed. Kulongoski gathered $400,000 from the Democratic Governors Association, bringing that group's total donation to $450,000.

Going into the final three weeks, Kulongoski reported $1.2 million cash on hand, while Saxton had $679,685 to spend.

Saxton's $7.8 million in campaign fundraising totals through last weekend by far exceeds the previous record of $4.6 million raised four years ago by Republican Kevin Mannix, who lost to Kulongoski.

Kulongoski campaign spokeswoman Anna Richter Taylor said the fundraising results so far in the governor's race weren't a surprise.

"Certainly he's outraised us, nearly 2-to-1, but looking at where we are in the race right now, he's proving that you still can't buy an election in Oregon," she said, referring to a recent poll that showed Kulongoski taking the first sizeable lead in what so far has been a toss-up. "We actually feel sorry for the people who are throwing good money after bad with Ron Saxton."

Saxton continued to pick up big checks from timber companies, with $300,000 in the past month on top of earlier contributions that exceeded $600,000. His most recent big donations from the forest-products sector included $25,000 apiece from Seneca Jones Timber and Murphy Hardwood, both in Eugene.

Labor remained Kulongoski's truest financial friend, giving him $364,000 in the past month and $808,000 since June.

In addition, the statewide teachers' union, the Oregon Education Association, reported spending $680,000 on an independent expenditure of TV ads extolling Kulongoski as "the education governor."

That's not the story Saxton's campaign manager saw in Thursday's campaign finance disclosures, known as contribution and expenditure, or C&E, reports.

"What today's C&E reports make abundantly clear is that Gov. Kulongoski's campaign would be all but over if not for the support of his union friends," he said.

The 10 statewide ballot measures attracted a combined $5 million in the past four weeks, bringing their total contributions since June to $14 million.

The insurance industry continued to pour money into the fight to defeat Measure 42, which would ban the use of credit scores in setting premiums. The "no" campaign now has raised $4.8 million, while the only money being spent on behalf of Measure 42 is about $10,000 in an independent expenditure by the San Francisco-based Consumers Union.

The biggest battle involves a pair of initiatives that would drastically curb the state's ability to raise and spend tax dollars. Measures 41 and 48 are opposed by unions, businesses and other members of the Defend Oregon Coalition, which reported new contributions of $718,000 - bringing its overall totals to $3 million for a campaign to defeat both measures.

Backers of the two measures, which are running separate campaigns, reported raising $1.1 million in the past four weeks - far more than the $146,000 it had raised through Sept. 21. Nearly all of the campaign's money, $1.08 million, could be traced to organizations controlled by Howard Rich, the New York real estate tycoon and contributor to numerous limited-government initiative campaigns in other states.

Rich's U.S. Term Limits remained the biggest contributor to the Measure 45 campaign to restore Oregon's legislative term limits. The "yes" campaign's total contributions have grown to $1.3 million while opponents - primarily unions and business lobbies - have brought their totals to $235,000.

The other measure to draw more than $1 million in combined contributions was Measure 43, which would require doctors to notify parents before performing abortions on girls ages 15 to 17. Opponents have raised nearly $1.3 million while backers reported contributions of $786,000.

$7.8 million

Total raised by Republican gubernatorial challenger Ron Saxton, who has $679,685 cash on hand

$4.65 million

Total raised by Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has $1.2 million left to spend on his campaign

RON SAXTON The Republican nominee's totals (money raised in most recent period, Sept. 22-Oct. 22, in parentheses) Contributions: $7.8 million ($2.5 million) Expenditures: $7.5 million ($2.7 million) Ending cash balance: $679,685 Top donors since winning the nomination: Republican Governors Association - $1.6 million Holiday Retirement Co. (two top executives) - $500,000 Roderick Wendt, Jeld-Wen CEO - $250,000 William Swindells, retired head of Willamette Industries - $250,000

TED KULONGOSKI The Democratic nominee's totals (money raised in most recent period, Sept. 22-Oct. 22, in parentheses) Contributions: $4.65 million ($1.65 million) Expenditures: $3.73 million ($1.79 million) Ending cash balance: $1.2 million Top donors since winning the nomination: Oregon Education Association* - $878,000 Democratic Governors Association - $450,000 Service Employees International Union - $200,000 Phil Knight and Nike - $130,000 * Includes $678,000 spent directly by the OEA on candidate's behalf