KMAX: News of the West

Boxer has $2 million in cash for 2004 race

By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., raised $1 million in the first three months of the year and has $2 million in available cash for her 2004 race, her campaign said Monday.

Boxer, seeking a third term in the Senate, is raising money faster than she did six years ago on her way to an easy re-election victory. She spent $13 million to defeat Republican Matt Fong in 1998.

``We're on our way to raising the resources needed to run a winning campaign,'' she said in a statement.

Boxer, whose political base is in Marin County, has said she will hold 150 fund-raising events this year to prepare for what she expects to be a costly campaign.

Her campaign totals for the first quarter of 2003 include $150,000 raised by Boxer's joint effort with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Joint fund-raising committees allow a candidate to raise money for herself and her party at the same time.

Boxer's campaign spent $375,000 in the same period.

Among her potential opponents are three independently wealthy Republicans 2002 gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon and Reps. Darrell Issa of Vista and Doug Ose of Sacramento. Issa lost to Fong in the 1998 Republican Senate primary after spending more than $9 million of his own money, while Simon put $11.3 million into his race against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

Of the three, Ose is the only one who has taken any formal steps toward running, setting up an exploratory committee that allows him to raise money for a Senate bid. But under Federal Election Commission rules, Ose does not have to disclose how much he raises and spends unless he becomes a candidate.

Ose has said he plans to decide on the race in May or June.

Marko Mlikotin, an Ose campaign spokesman, declined on Monday to say how much Ose has raised for his exploratory committee. He said Ose's House campaign finance report would be filed Tuesday, the FEC's deadline for the first quarter of 2003.

Other Republicans considering running against Boxer are: Reps. Mary Bono of Palm Springs and George Radanovich of Mariposa, U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin of Huntington Park and conservative Los Angeles talk show host Dennis Prager.

Candidates have until the end of November to qualify for the March 2004 primary ballot. But the need to raise a lot of money, and raise it quickly, will probably force decisions much sooner.

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