Spencer's Excel Story

In an apparition of the 1996 election, Adams, McDonald, and Peterson won back-to-back elections. This likely comes as no surprise to most, who might have seen this coming due to several factors, the primary being campaign contributions. As in ’96, the three candidates with the most money earned in contributions won the election. Adams and McDonald closed the gap on Peterson for the most money earned, but Peterson still prevailed for the second straight time.

Peterson focused his campaign on television advertisement, spending $6,387,754 of his earned $11,931,499 on TV ads. He also focused his efforts toward public relations counseling, on which he spent nearly 30 percent of his budget. The candidate devoted about 17 percent of his budget toward street posters and yard signs, but spent minimally beyond that, devoting less than two percent of his budget toward radio advertising and even less toward direct mail promotion.

Adams also focused on television advertising, but he strongly mixed in public relations as well. McDonald, on the other hand, set his sights on direct mail and yard signs, apparently catering to an older audience.

The main difference between the previous race and this year’s is that the amount of money received increased greatly. The overall funding for this year’s race was up nearly 28 percent from four years ago. Adams had the greatest percent increase for his particular campaign at 82 percent, followed closely by McDonald with 75 percent. Smith was the only candidate to earn less money in this year’s election.

Interest group contributions played a large part in the candidates’ success, with Save Our Planet Group contributing the most overall money to this year’s election at nearly $20 million. The Teachers’ Union gave 12 million to various candidates while the Police Union donated just over 5 million to the candidates’ causes.