THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040583
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The price of power is changing in northeastern North Carolina.
While candidates for the legislature in northeastern North Carolina are generally raising more money and have larger campaign chests than in previous years, many are spending less on campaigns in 1994 than in previous years.
Candidates for the House of Representatives in northeastern North Carolina have raised about $9,895 each during the first part of 1994, an increase of about 41 percent over the average raised by winning candidates for the House during all of 1992.
Candidates for the Senate from the northeast have gathered an average of $13,383 during the first months of 1994. That's about half of the average of $27,117 raised by winning Senate candidates in 1992.
So far in 1994, the most expensive campaign for the state House among Albemarle-area legislators has been waged by Democratic challenger L.W. Locke, who scored a successful primary bid to unseat Dock Brown, a Democratic incumbent in the 7th House District.
Locke of Halifax County spent $9,583 in the primary race and has about $19,159 cash on hand, including $10,000 of his own money. Locke is unopposed in the November election.
So far this year, Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, has spent more money than any of his other Senate colleagues. Basnight, unopposed in the
November election, has spent about $23,180 in 1994, leaving him with about $130,394 for the remainder of the year.
Campaign costs in northeastern North Carolina are still below the state average of $17,675 for a House seat and $32,773 for a Senate seat, according to one study by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research in Raleigh.
Campaigning has gotten so expensive in the Piedmont that some legislators are considering a constitutional amendment extending legislative terms from two to four years. A similar measure in 1982 was defeated by the state's voters in a referendum. ILLUSTRATION: Staff chart by STEVE STONE
1994 CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES
For copy of chart, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN FINANCING
by CNB