Now that the November elections have been over for more than a month, congressional candidates are making their final accounting to the Federal Election Commission.
Some of the interesting facts that reports disclose include that unsuccessful 1st District Democrat Gunn McKay was the only challenger in Utah who raised more than the incumbent he faced; that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spent 16 times as much as his opponent in a race that was never close; and some of the unsuccessful candidates lost more than the election - they spent significant sums of their own money on their campaigns.In the 1st District House race, McKay raised $374,033 and spent $382,164. The winner, Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, raised $350,064 and spent $355,133.
About two-thirds of the money raised by both candidates came from political action committees. Many of the PACs that donated to Hansen were business-oriented, and many that contributed to McKay were related to labor unions. Neither candidate had to donate or loan money to his own race.
In the 2nd District, Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, raised and spent more than twice as much as his challenger, Republican Richard Snelgrove.
Owens raised $503,869 this year and spent $541,665. Snelgrove raised $239,689 and spent $203,326. Snelgrove made a $5,000 loan to his campaign that it has yet to pay back, and his family's ice cream business is still owed $3,597 for ice cream used during the race.
Owens raised $282,511 from PACs, which was more than the total contributions that Snelgrove's campaign received. Snelgrove received $54,538 from PACs.
In the 3rd District race, unsuccessful Democratic challenger Robert Stringham raised only $16,696 and spent $16,203. He loaned his campaign $2,959, which documents showed has not yet been paid back. The winner, Rep. Howard Nielson, R-Utah, had not yet filed his final report with the FEC as of Friday. But his Oct. 15 report showed that he had spent at least $102,900 on the campaign.
In the Senate race, Hatch raised a whopping $2,422,595 and spent $2,380,036. That's nearly 16 times as much as the $152,494 that Democrat Brian Moss raised, and the $151,900 he spent.
Hatch's report shows that he raised $1.8 million through donations from individuals, $602,282 from PACs and $30,000 from Republican Party organizations. Moss raised $70,844 from individuals - including $1,100 he donated himself; $73,050 from PACs; and $7,500 from Democratic Party groups.