GOP gubernatorial hopefuls still in stealth mode

With less than a month left until voters begin casting early ballots, the four Republican gubernatorial candidates vying for their party’s nomination have been nearly invisible.

By now the GOP hopefuls — who have little name recognition and short political résumés — should be locked in a high-profile political dogfight to win the their party’s nomination and boost their name ID.

Except for a few Web sites and a handful of political campaign signs scattered along Valley roads, the candidates have been working in stealth mode.

The reason? Money. And so far, the candidates haven’t raised much.

Between them, Len Munsil, Don Goldwater, Mike Harris and Gary Tupper have brought in a reported lackluster $628,498 — barely enough to buy a month’s worth of advertisements on the Valley’s three major television networks. And that’s not even a fourth of the $3.3 million raised by the top three Republican candidates in the 2002 primary.

Some GOP strategists are worried about the party’s chances this fall.

“The political money in Arizona is saying that Gov. Janet Napolitano will be governor for another four years,” said Stan Barnes, a Republican political consultant. “In politics, money is the leading indicator of the party’s belief in a candidate’s credibility.”

The bottom line is people don’t put money into losing causes, Barnes added.

The lack of money has limited how much the candidates can reach out to voters this year. But Matt Salmon, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said it can’t be blamed solely on the candidates.

Salmon, who won the party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2002, said Clean Elections has stifled fundraising efforts, which has kept the candidates from launching an effective campaign.

“It’s a challenging environment for fund-raising,” he said. To qualify for public funding this year, candidates must collect $5 contributions from at least 4,200 registered voters. That entitles them to $453,849 for the primary.

The quest for the $5 contributions knocked out other more high-profile gubernatorial candidates this year — former Senate President John Greene and former Santa Cruz County attorney and Judge Jan Smith Florez. Both cited inability to collect $5 contributions as major reasons for dropping out.

Of the current candidates, only Munsil has qualified for public money, giving him a huge financial advantage. The most visible evidence is on the streets, as he is the only candidate to have campaign signs up.

Still, the campaign has held on to much of its money and made little noise. Republican political operative Nathan Sproul, who is running Munsil’s campaign, said there’s no way they could sustain a statewide TV effort on public money. Taking out a two-week spot on any of the major networks could eat up half the money. That would cost between $200,000 and $250,000, he said.

That’s forced the Munsil camp to focus on the more low-profile and low-tech approaches for reaching voters. Most of the money spent has gone for phone calls and mailings.

Meanwhile, his opponent, Don Goldwater — the other candidate who has pledged to run publicly — is still scrambling for $5 contributions.

For the past couple of months, he’s maintained that he’s close to collecting the donations. “I’ll have the signatures and I’ll win the primary,” said Goldwater, nephew of former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.

But to have a realistic shot at winning the primary, his campaign needs the money soon. Without it, most political observers say his campaign is dead in the water.

“You can’t communicate with voters without it,” said Doug Cole, a longtime political consultant. And with little political experience and almost zero name recognition, the candidates need to lay out their vision for Arizona and separate themselves from the pack as the state begins sending out early ballots Aug. 10.

Shane Cayo, the former evangelist now running Mike Harris’ campaign, said the race will start heating up soon. “We’re gearing up to win this race come the primary. That means getting people out of their comfort zone,” he said. However, he wasn’t specific about how the campaign intended to do that.

Harris has said he’s running as a traditional candidate because he thinks the only way to defeat Napolitano is to outspend her.

Likewise, Tupper said there should be some campaign signs hitting the streets soon — although Tupper only has enough money to pay for about 40 signs to cover the entire state.

When asked why he didn’t attempt to qualify for public money, he said he didn’t think candidates should “be panhandling for $5.”

GOP candidates

DON GOLDWATER Type of candidate: Public (Still needs to qualify) Reported contributions: $21,050 Reported expenditures: $18,421 Elected political experience: None

MIKE HARRIS Type of candidate: Traditional Reported contributions: $133,649 Reported expenditures: $126,623 Elected political experience: None

LEN MUNSIL Type of candidate: Public Reported contributions: $462,739 Reported expenditures: $79,813 Elected political experience: None

GARY TUPPER Type of candidate: Traditional Reported contributions: $11,060 Reported expenditures: $10,284 Elected political experience: None

SOURCE: Arizona Secretary of State’s Office