Spending blitz

With less than two weeks to go for the Presidential election, the parties, candidates and independent groups that have turned this year&#146...

With less than two weeks to go for the Presidential election, the parties, candidates and independent groups that have turned this year’s contest into the first billion-dollar campaign are still raising and spending money like never before.

During the first 18 days of October, organisations spent more than $42.8 million on advertising alone, the Federal Election Commission disclosed yesterday. The top spenders were the political parties, the United Auto Workers and the National Rifle Association.

Other so-called independent 527 groups, which are governed by the tax code, continued to pour money into television ads. Since October 1, the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth spent $3.4 million on ads attacking Senator Kerry.

Story continues below this ad

These record levels of spending led the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group, to project that the cost of this year’s presidential race would top $1.2 billion. With congressional races included, the center projected that spending on all federal elections this year would cost $3.9 billion, compared to $3 billion four years ago.

Part of the reason lies with a change in a new campaign finance law, which banned corporate and union contributions and increased the limits for individual donations. Women also are contributing a bigger share. The center’s executive director, Larry Noble, said wealthy donors were bolstering their donations by getting their spouses to contribute as well.

Former President Clinton recovering from open-heart surgery, sent out a fund-raising appeal yesterday to 5 million Democrats via e-mail. The Bush campaign reported spending $32 million on advertising in September, beginning the month of October with about $30.5 million in cash. Kerry’s latest spending figures were unavailable. —(LAT-WP)

9 men killed in Chennai construction site had left Assam to build a better life

India1 hr ago

Nine young men from the Dimasa tribe, working at a construction site in Tamil Nadu, were killed when a concrete arch they were working on collapsed. The brothers Provit and Sorbojit Thaosen were among the victims, along with four others from their village. The incident highlights the lack of employment opportunities and low wages that force many from their villages to work as migrant workers.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS