Democrats gamble on new plan to compete with billionaire in Calif. governor’s race

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Soaring spending reorders Calif. governor’s race

LOS ANGELES — Six-figure donations are rolling in, radio and online ads are running, and researchers are digging for dirt on Meg Whitman, the leading Republican candidate for California governor.

This isn’t a look inside Democrat Jerry Brown’s campaign. Brown is not in charge or technically even involved in the operations.

The effort is the work of independent Democratic-linked groups that are essentially acting as surrogate campaigns for Brown at a time when he faces a huge fundraising disadvantage against Whitman. The billionaire former CEO of eBay intends to spend more money on the race than any candidate for governor in U.S. history.

The political operations are prohibited by law from coordinating with candidates, but they are free to spend as much money as they want on a politician’s behalf. In fact, the Democratic groups could end up raising and spending more money than the candidate himself, a first in a California governor’s race.

The movement is reshaping the way elections are waged in trendsetting California while offering a glimpse into America’s future after the U.S. Supreme Court in January gave corporations and unions new freedom to spend on many campaigns.

The trend is also an expansion of what has played out in recent elections on a smaller scale. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, for example, helped President George W. Bush win a second term in 2004 by challenging John Kerry’s war record.

And in recent years, California has seen a surge in spending by Indian tribes, companies and labor groups trying to elect friendly candidates to the Legislature, sometimes in amounts that dwarf spending by candidate campaigns.

“Campaigns, particularly for governor and U.S. Senate, are not going to get waged between candidate A and candidate B,” said Bill Carrick, a Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant with decades of experience in state and national politics.

“There will be all these satellite, independent campaigns that might have a more profound effect on the campaign than the candidates.”

The group began targeting Whitman long before Brown had even officially announced his candidacy. Whitman’s campaign is calling for an investigation of one of the groups because it believes they are breaking the law.

The new political order is being shaped largely by Whitman’s presence. The former CEO at eBay has already poured at least $39 million of her fortune into the race and could spend an unprecedented $150 million by November.

Brown won’t even come close to those numbers.

Figures released Monday show the California attorney general and former two-term governor has about $14 million in the bank. Democratic operatives say he could raise $45 million — but that’s only if every person who has donated to a Democratic candidate for governor in recent elections gave him $25,900, the maximum allowable donation for the 2010 race.

Whitman’s rival in the GOP primary, Steve Poizner, is another wealthy scion of Silicon Valley who could spend tens of millions of dollars on his candidacy.

For Democrats, the fortunes have rekindled haunting memories of 2006, when Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used a commanding edge in fundraising to seize control of his re-election race.

If Whitman emerges victorious from the Republican primary, her fundraising edge could put Brown on the defensive in a race with no clear favorite. An independent Field Poll released this week shows the two in a statistical tie in a hypothetical matchup.

That’s why other Democrats are stepping in.

Unlike candidate campaigns, the outside groups could bank six- or seven-figure donations from wealthy individuals, unions or sympathetic organizations. One is linked to supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, a major Democratic donor and longtime friend of former President Bill Clinton.

The groups have set lofty goals they might never reach — raising together as much as $40 million for the Democratic cause.

The advertising and activities of the outside groups could allow Brown to warehouse money while staying above the day-to-day scrum of campaigning, at least for now. Since announcing his campaign this month, his most visible activity has been a string of media interviews.

Brown’s political committees have been in virtual hibernation for months, except for fundraising. Meanwhile, independent groups have taken on many of the functions of a campaign, except for the name.

Level the Playing Field 2010, for example, has hired a professional researcher to plumb Whitman’s business records. It is running ads on radio, while Brown has not. Its Web site features postings and videos with headlines such as “Meg Whitman’s Fake Town Hall.”

The backbone of the group includes Chris Lehane, a strategist whose parents were involved in Brown’s 1992 presidential campaign; Ace Smith, a strategist who ran his attorney general campaign; pollster Paul Maslin, whose firm handled polling for Brown’s attorney general race; and fundraiser Michelle Maravich.

Brown “is going to have to husband his resources and focus them on the later stages of the campaign,” Lehane said. Level the Playing Field is “trying to fill that space.”

Another group, the California Accountability Project, has staffers shadowing Whitman and Poizner at events to watch for slip-ups — a job usually for a campaign. The group, backed by the Democratic Governors Association, is coordinating with other Democratic groups, which is permitted under campaign law.

Another independent Democratic committee, California Working Families 2010, plans to run ads produced by Larry Grisolano, a veteran strategist who worked on President Barack Obama’s campaign.

The group hopes to raise at least $20 million, the same target as Level the Playing Field.

The most recent government records, covering July through December, show Brown paid no political staffers. His campaign said it has about a dozen people on board, but government records released Monday showed that as of March 17 it had only two paid staffers, consultant Steven Glazer and spokesman Sterling Clifford.

Brown has “the people he wanted working on his campaign,” Clifford said. The independent groups “have a right to be concerned about an election and share their thoughts with the public, in whatever way they can afford.”

Republican lawyers say Level the Playing Field might be working furtively with Brown’s campaign, violating election law, and have called for a state investigation.

“There is no doubt these are front groups for Jerry Brown,” Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said. “They are going to be doing his dirty work.”

Whitman’s campaign points to a Brown speech this week in which he urged union members to attack his rivals.

“I’d rather be the nice guy in this race,” Brown said.