The top four major candidates for Salt Lake City mayor have opened their spending spigots, with nearly $400,000 going for advertising and printing in August for their last-minute efforts to get beyond the Sept. 11 primary.
Keith Christensen, Jenny Wilson, Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler are driving hard to primary election day on Sept. 11, a newspaper analysis of their latest campaign finance reports shows.
They are spending their money on video production, broadcast time, printing, lawn signs, highway billboards and mailing brochures — in short, all kinds of advertising.
While the leading four players realize Sept. 11 is now-or-never, Wilson alone seems content to keep at least some money in her pocket and is stashing cash, because she believes she has a good chance of getting through the primary election. Wilson has led, although at times just barely, in all public opinion polls analyzing the race.
"I did just make a big (advertising) buy this week," she said Friday. "And so some of that ($107,000 cash seen in her latest report) is gone," said Wilson, who is a Democratic Salt Lake County councilwoman. But in the past month, she appeared confident enough to donate $700 to others, sending $400 to County Mayor Peter Corroon's campaign fund, $400 to Utah Children and $100 to Utah Open Lands.
But for Christensen, Becker and Buhler, their spending reports show clearly that they see Sept. 11 as a main obstacle in succeeding Mayor Rocky Anderson next January.
"I can't say I'll spend every last dime" on the primary race, said Becker, who is the minority leader of the Utah House. "But we are holding nothing back. We were the first to go up with a TV spot, and right after Labor Day we'll be on all the local" TV stations. Becker had $88,000 in cash as of the end of August and had spent $89,000 on advertising last month alone.
Like all the other candidates, Becker is counting on an aggressive grass-roots effort. He's walked door-to-door since March 1. "But the media is so expensive; we've basically been fund-raising just to afford media."
Buhler, a former GOP state senator and current a city council member, said "you have to win the first election first" before you consider your final two-month campaign.
However, both public and private polling tells Buhler he'll make it through Sept. 11, "so we will have some money left over" to start the final race, he said. "We have an idea on how much that should be, but I won't talk about that strategy."
Recent reports show that Buhler has about $58,000 in cash on hand, the smallest amount among the four main candidates. He'll be running new radio advertisements with former GOP Govs. Olene Walker and Norm Bangerter and will start running his TV ads on broadcast stations a week before the primary election, he said.
Christensen, a former city council member and political independent, shows the largest advertising buy in August. He has been the best fund-raiser in the race. "People did not give to my campaign to see me with a big pot of money on Sept. 12," he said Friday. "They gave to me because they want me to spend it and win" the primary.
All four candidates have TV spots — some mainly on the cheaper cable channels.
Christensen is running so many of his TV spots on regular channels, it seems one can't go an hour without seeing his bicycle-with-me advertisement. "My radio ad with (former Salt Lake mayor) Jake Garn and with Rocky is being very well received," said Christensen. He added he may not do another radio spot.
Wilson said short commutes make radio advertising problematic. "You don't have a lot of time" on drive-time radio to get heard, she said.
Christensen has also been plastering residential mail boxes with print ads, one which reprints the whole Salt Lake Tribune editorial endorsement of the former city councilman. (The Deseret Morning News does not endorse political candidates.)
While there are nine candidates for mayor, only four have raised significant amounts of cash, and only those four show any meaningful support in public opinion polls.
Both Wilson and Buhler bought public opinion polls over the last month, their reports show. And both said those, coupled with other campaign operations, tell them that it will be a Wilson/Buhler final election.
"But you never take anything for granted," said Wilson. "We think only 30,000 people will vote in the primary, about one in three of all registered voters in the city. We all (have to go at campaigning) hard until the primary."
The video advertisements being aired by the four vary in length and content. Their ads, issue statements and other information can be viewed on their Web sites: Christensen's www.keithformayor.com; www.votejennywilson.com; www.ralphbecker.com; and Buhler's www.daveformayor.org.
Perhaps taking a clue from the in-your-face, humorous ads that Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, ran in his successful 1992 campaign, Buhler has a unique Web site and advertisements.
Mimicking the video presentation found in the film "Jurassic Park," Buhler walks onto the computer screen joking and telling people to visit his other video presentations. All of his short, quirky videos/advertisements are located on that site, as well.
Wilson takes a more traditional approach in her main TV ad, with short snippet statements on various issues.
Becker's TV ad moves from endorsements to issues. And on his Web site, one can see a longer version that says Becker is "Blueprint Man," a kind of Superman with a plan.
Christensen is shown riding a street bicycle, in complete bicycling garb, with others joining him as he rides through Salt Lake City. It ends with a suit-clothed Christensen asking you to join his ride for the mayorship.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lee@desnews.com