THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU THE FED PAGE


THE INFLUENCE INDUSTRY T.W. Farnam


history, that doesn’tmean that all the politicalmoney has been spent. Federal lawmakers and former candidates still have almost $400million left in the bank. In a politicalworld reliant on a


A


constant source of campaign cash,money can be power, and many sitting lawmakers have been stockpiling checks since they came into office.Most of the time, they are keeping it to scare off or prepare for potential challengers or to finance an ambition for leadership or higher office. Sen. John Thune is a typical


example. The SouthDakota Republican, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, has $7.2 million in his campaign fund, according to the latest reports, which cover the period through themiddle ofNovember. Thune was unopposed this year, but he still raised $6million and spent about half of that. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-


N.Y.) has about $10.3million in the bank. Schumer,who has used his close ties toWall Street to raise a hoard ofmoney for the Democratic Party, haswidely reported leadership ambitions. He is seen as themost likely successor to Sen.HarryM.Reid (Nev.) as the nextDemocratic Senate leader. Schumer has usedmoney to


help colleagueswho are essential to his rise in the ranks.His campaign committee has donated $5.4million to the Democratic Party and its candidates in the past decade, including $1million to help fund Senate races this year. Sen.Richard C. Shelby (Ala.)


has the largest campaign account of any lawmaker or candidate, with $17.2million in cash on hand. Shelby has easily raked in campaign checks as the rankingRepublican on the Senate banking committee, which overseas theWall Street


lthough this yearmarked themost expensive midtermcampaign inU.S.


Midterm splurge ends with lots of cash still on hand Big bank accounts


bankers and traderswho are the biggest source of campaign money. At the same time, Shelby has


faced only token opposition in his reelection campaigns. He beat his latest challenger by 30 percentage points. “Senator Shelby has built his


campaign fund brick by brick over time,” said his spokesman, JonathanGraffeo. “He has never taken a race for granted and alwaysworks diligently to ensure that he’s prepared for any potential challenger. Senator Shelby has also donated generously toRepublican candidates fromhis PAC.” After Shelby runs his last


campaign, it’s unclearwhatwill happen to his bank account.At 76 andwith no apparent ambition for higher office or Senate leadership, Shelbywill probably give some lucky organization awindfall after he retires. Campaignmoney cannot be


used for personal expenses under election law. Candidates are allowed to use it for a future federal or state race, dole it out to other candidates in small chunks or give unlimited amounts to their state and national parties. Themoney can also be used to seed a charity or nonprofit. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.),who


did not run for reelection this year, has $10.3million in his campaign accounts. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) usedmillions left over fromhis 2008 presidential run to fund his Senate reelection this year, overcoming a primary challenge fromtalk radio host and former representative J.D.Hayworth. He’s still gotmillions left, but it is tied up in a special account that has more than the usual restrictions. The $400million sitting in


campaign accounts is evenly split between the two parties. It’s also controlled by a small number of politicians. “Candidates like these are in theminority,” saidDave


A handful of U.S. politicians have been able to build up huge amounts of campaign funds, which can be applied to future races or to scare off potential competitors.


Cash on hand as of latest date available, in millions Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)


Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)* Sen. John Tune (R-S.D.) Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)


$17.1 12.4 10.3 10.3 7.2 6.8


Former Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) 4.8 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) President Obama


3.7 3.2 3.2


SOURCE: Federal Election Commission filings


Levinthal of the nonpartisan Center forResponsive Politics, which tracksmoney in politics. “Most of themare bringing it in and spending it just as fast.” PresidentObama finished his


2008 campaignwith about $30 million in the bank—money thatmany thought hewould carry into his reelection fight. Much of themoneywas spent in the past two years, however, including $3million used to help fundDemocraticHouse and Senate campaigns this year. Obama has $3million left to seed his reelection campaign. Two tea party-backed


Republicanswhose Senate candidacies received a lot of attention this year ended their campaignswith almost $1 million each in the bank. But they both lost, leading to criticisms that perhaps they didn’t spend enough. Delaware Senate candidate


ChristineO’Donnell recently reported $925,000 in the bank, despite having blamed Republicans for her defeat, saying they had not provided enough financial support. In the final days of the campaign, O’Donnell’s staff had trouble


Poll shows boomers’ pessimism on Medicare


BY JENNIFER AGIESTA AND


RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR With the first baby boomers


becoming old enough to qualify forMedicare starting Jan. 1,many of them fear that they won’t be able to rely on the government- run health insurance plan throughout their retirement. A new Associated Press-GfK


poll finds that43percent ofAmer- icansbornbetween1946and1964 say they don’t expect to be able to depend on Medicare forever, while20percent thinktheirMedi- care is secure.The resthavemixed feelings. Thesurveyalsoshowsawilling-


*Retiring. THE WASHINGTON POST


placing some of her advertising because therewas no airtime available. O’Donnell’s campaign spent


$263,000 after the election, including a $798 bill for food and drink at theRoma Italian Restaurant inDover onNov. 20, records show. FormerO’Donnell campaign


staffmembers did not respond to requests for comment, and a message leftwith the campaign headquarterswas not returned. Alaskan JoeMiller,who


decided thisweek not to contest the certification of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s reelection, had $980,000 left at the end of his campaign.Miller defeated Murkowski in theGOP primary but lost the general election by 10,000 votes after she decided to run as awrite-in candidate. farnamt@washpost.com


The Federal Worker A jump on jobs for 2011


It’s dry reading, but federal government budget requests can be a good source for where the openings are. B3


ness among adults of all ages to sacrifice to preserve Medicare benefits that most Americans say they deserve after years of paying taxes into the systematwork. Take the contentious issue of


Medicare’s eligibility age, fixed at 65, while the qualifying age for Social Security is rising gradually to 67. Initially, 63 percent of boomers


polled dismissed the idea of rais- ing the eligibility age to keep Medicareafloat.Butwhenthesur- vey forced them to choose be- tween raising the age or cutting benefits, 59 percent chose to raise the age andkeepthe benefits. The poll also found differences


by age, gender and income among baby boomers.For example, baby- boom women, who can expect to live longer than both their moth- ers and their husbands, aremuch more pessimistic thanmen about theprogram’s future. Medicare covers 46 million el-


derly and disabled people at an annual cost of about $500 billion. But the high price of American- stylemedicine, stressingintensive treatment and the latest innova- tions, is straining its finances. Whenthelastof thebabyboom-


ers reaches age 65 in about two decades, Medicare will be cover- ing more than 80 million people. At the same time, the ratio of workers paying taxes to support the program will have plunged


from3.5 for each person receiving benefits currently, to 2.3. Some leading Republicans and


a few Democrats have called for phasing out the program and in- stead giving retirees a fixed pay- ment — or vouchers —to help them buy private medical insur- ance of their choice. The poll founddoubtsabout theidea,anda generationaldebate. Overall, a narrow majority (51


percent) of Americans opposed the voucher plan. But those born after 1980 favored it by 47 percent to 41 percent, while seniors op- posed it 4-to-1. A majority of boomers were also opposed, with 43percent strongly objecting. Changes that don’t involve a


full-scale re-engineering of Medi- caretendedtodrawmoresupport, especiallywhen the survey forced people to choose between giving up benefits ormaking some other kindof sacrifice. For example, 61 percent of


Americans overall favored raising Medicare taxes to avoid a cut in benefits.The currentpayroll tax is 2.9percentonwages,evenlydivid- ed betweenworkers and their em- ployers. The new health-care law added a surcharge of 0.9 percent on earnings over $200,000 for in- dividuals and $250,000 for cou- ples filing jointly. When forced to choose, even a


majority of Republicans said they would rather pay higher taxes (53 percent) thancut benefits (38per- cent). Among adults in their 20s, who would face a whole career paying higher taxes, 61 percent said they would be willing to pay more topreservebenefits.Only 29 percent of boomers said keep tax- es the same but cut benefits. A narrower majority — 54 per-


cent—also favoredrequiringpeo- ple on Medicare to pay higher copayments and deductibles so payments to doctors don’t have to be cut. Support was surprisingly strong among seniors: 62 percent said they’d bewilling to paymore so that doctors’ fees don’t have to be cut and more doctors keep ac- ceptingMedicarepayments. —AssociatedPress


A13


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