Nicole's Excel Story

Nicole Andelfinger
Electronic Journalism
Professor Cervantes
April 15, 2008
Excel Story
It appears that money can indeed buy you happiness – or at least a political position. In the 2000 race, out of the six candidates running for the three positions open, the three that had the most financial backing found themselves in the winner’s circle.
Adams, McDonald, and Peterson, all with expenditures over eight million for their total campaign, won their candidacy. Not only were the victor’s budgets one-third bigger overall than the defeated Thurston, Smith, and Johnson, but they received more financial backing from the Police Union, Teachers’ Union, and Save our Planet group.
Save Our Planet had the largest amount of donations this election with $20 million, and consequently, helped lead its favored candidate, Peterson, to victory. The Teachers’ Union, with a budget of around $12 million, also shot McDonald into victory by donating around two-fifths of its budget to McDonald. The Police Union’s small budget of $5.3 million was not enough to help launch Thurston into political power, despite being the source of 71% of Thurston’s budget.
Total spending among the three organizations grew this election, with a total expenditure going from $22 million worth of donations in 1996 to $37 million in 2000. The total money used in the candidate’s individual campaigns did not have as high a rise however, and barely expanded by a third from last year’s total of $29.1 million.
Representative who were not supported well by the Save our Planet group or Teachers’ Union (receiving under 10 percent of each group’s budget) consequently did not become elected. Any candidate who relied on one organization for over 70 percent of their expenditures (once again, this being Thurston, Smith, and Johnson) lost as well.
The use of television also helped factor who won the 2000 elections. TV advertising helped Adams, McDonald, and Peterson in their win in 2000. Over three-fourths of Adam’s budget, almost two-thirds of McDonald’s budget, and over half of Peterson’s budget went to creating television ads for their campaigns. Over fifty percent of total campaigning funds from all six candidates were used on television ads, and all three candidates who won spent a combined total of almost $20 million. Smith spent $1.2 million, while Thurston and Johnson didn’t spend any money on television ads.
Peterson, who had the biggest budget, spent the most money on every type of campaigning except for direct mail pieces. He also had the lowest change in budget, where as Adams and McDonald both achieved victory by increasing their budgets by nearly double from what they spent in 1996.