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Close to $300,000 spent on Moe and Fuller campaign during the 2004 election

The 2004 House Representative race in District 4A is estimated to have involved close to $300,000 in campaign spending. This figure can hardly compare to previous years and is most likely to set a record in Minnesota history.

Candidates from two major parties, Democrat Frank Moe and Republican Doug Fuller, had to limit their monetary campaign spending to $31,000 and $28,000 each accordingly. Moe, as a first time runner in the race, could spend $3,000 extra.

A considerable amount of money came from private and small contributions. The rest of the $300,000 was raised and utilized by the supporting parties and organizations in the form of independent expenditures.

According to Fuller, the major contributors to his campaign were the HRCC (House Republican Campaign Commission), the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses, and Professional Fire Fighters.

Among Moe’s supporters were Education Minnesota, the Minnesota League of Conservation, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal workers) and other unions.

Fuller and Moe both think that money contributions, labeled the “mother’s milk of politics” by Jesse Unruh, have been important in their campaigns, allowing them to do much more “get out the vote” activities.

But in spite of all the fundraising efforts and contributions, both candidates are convinced that what made the most significant impact in their election campaigns was the personal voter contact. “We had an internal debate on whether to advertise on TV or not, but decided that door-to-door voter contact and direct mail were much more effective,” said Fuller.

Moe also says that calling voters, going from door to door, and attending events was what brought him the victory. “We went and visited voters in places where no other candidate has ever been before,” said Moe. “And this really made a difference.”

But to get their message across, it was not uncommon for candidates to rely on various kinds of mass media to communicate with prospective voters.

Moe, unlike Fuller, focused on TV advertising. His campaign ran ads consistently, costing him around $3,000 in production and sales.

In this election campaign, political radio commercials were another important form of communicating with voters. It was also the medium with the most political advertising that is considered to be negative. According to Fuller, however, the concept of negativity is “in the eye of the beholder” and “simply pointing out differences between the two candidates” isn’t necessarily negative. Moe disagrees, saying that out of all candidates in the State House Representative races in Minnesota, the biggest amount of “attack ads” were directed at his candidacy.

Both candidates said that a lot of their supporters took advantage of the Minnesota Campaign Contributions Refund program. It basically allows people to make donations to their candidate in the amount of up to $50, and then get reimbursed by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Such donations accounted for approximately half of Moe’s campaign funds.

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