When it comes to money, Howie Hawkins just can’t compete.
“It puts me at a disadvantage,” said Hawkins. He is the perennial third-party candidate now running as the Green Populist candidate for the 25th Congressional District. “I’m doing OK in terms of the coverage by the media. I’m in the debates. But that only reaches a certain portion of people. Advertising would reach more.”
Here’s how bad the disadvantage is for Hawkins: He’s has raised about $5,400 for this campaign, he said in a telephone interview on Oct. 24. Campaign finance reports show he has reported only $90 to the Federal Election Commission.
Both of his opponents can crush either total. Democrat Dan Maffei has raised almost $2 million, according to campaign finance reports. Republican Dale Sweetland has about $330,000.
The three candidates are vying for seat being vacated by retiring 20-year Republican incumbent Jim Walsh. The 25th Congressional District contains all of Onondaga and Wayne counties, and parts of Cayuga and Monroe counties. The election is Nov. 4.
Fundraising leader Maffei is also the favorite in the actual election. In an Oct. 9 poll, Maffei was 18 percentage points ahead of Sweetland, according to The Post-Standard. Hawkins received 6 percent support.
Hawkins’ struggles to find money are typical for third-party candidates. Hawkins, 55, has run for election 13 times since 1993 and lost all 13. He acknowledges that he does not have entrenched party support from which he can collect large sums of money. While his opponents can shoot high-quality television ads, Hawkins spends most of his money making copies of fliers.
All of his money comes from individual contributions, Hawkins said. Political actions committees — the mainstay of much political fundraising — might as well not exists, as far as Hawkins is concerned. He never received a dime from a PAC, the groups organized to raise money for political candidates and campaigns.
By contrast, PACs have been key to his opponents’ fundraising. Campaign finance reports show that PACs gave more than $700,000 to Democrat Maffei. Republican Sweetland has raised more than $54,000 from PACs.
Third-party candidates usually have to deal with fundraising shortages. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, for example, is just closing in on $4 million for the 2008 election, according to campaign finance reports. By comparison, Democrat Barack Obama has shattered records by raising more than $600 million. Republican John McCain has raised nearly $360 million.
Hawkins shares Nader’s money troubles — on a smaller scale. For the 2006 U.S. Senate race, Hawkins raised a career-high of $48,000 according to campaign finance reports. But incumbent Democrat Hilary Clinton gathered up $51.6 million as she coasted to re-election.
In the 2000 and 2004 congressional races, Hawkins did not report any campaign fundraising.
And in a congressional race, less money means less exposure, said Danny Hayes, a political science professor at Syracuse University. “The lower the level of election, it typically means that money matters more,” Hayes said. “The reason is because the further you get from a presidential contest, the less people actually know about the candidates. So they need some kind subsidy to help them learn, and that typically takes the form of contacts by the candidates themselves or advertising.”
In his campaign war chest, Hawkins said, he only has enough money for literature, phone calls from the Onondaga County Green Party office and a television advertisement. He wishes he could do direct mail, he said, so more voters could read about his platform.
Even the TV ad was low-budget. Hawkins shot a 30-second ad at friend’s house. The friend edited it, and added captions. “It’s just me in front of a book shelf,” Hawkins said, “just talking about my issues and why you should vote for me.”
In the video he briefly explains the planks of his platform, such as ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and moving to a single-payer, universal health care system like Canada’s.
“If I get elected,” Hawkins said, “it’s going to be on the base of issues, not money.”
(Andy McCullough is a senior newspaper journalism major.)
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