A Record $hattering Race

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani are on track to shatter the $43.3 million record set in 1994 in California for the most expensive U.S. Senate race in the nation's history.

Federal campaign finance records show that through the end of last month, and with more than seven months of fund-raising left, the first lady and the New York City mayor have already collected more than $32 million for their New York showdown.

"This is on the fast-track to being the most expensive Senate race in history," said Larry Makinson, executive director of the nonpartisan, Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics that studies campaigns and their financing. "We were saying early on, $50 million, but I think that's going to be low."

When soft-money spending by special interest groups and the two national parties is factored in, the total could easily top $100 million, said Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity, another Washington-based watchdog group.

"This will definitely be the most expensive Senate race in history," Eisner said.

In 1994, Republican Michael Huffington spent $29.4 million in losing to incumbent Democrat Diane Feinstein, who spent $13.9 million, in California's Senate race.

Campaign finance reports filed this past week show that through the first quarter of this year, the New York City mayor had raised $19.3 million while the first lady had collected $12.8 million. That is a pace projected to put them above Huffington-Feinstein.

"This is going to be to the world of the Senate what George W. Bush was to the world of running for president," Makinson added. "This is a national race."

In fact, through the end of last year, both candidates were raising about half their funds from outside New York. When it came to itemized donations of $200 or more, Giuliani counted them from every state but North Dakota and Clinton had them from 46 states.

The most expensive Senate race in New York history, and nationwide in 1998, at $40.9 million saw Republican incumbent Alfonse D'Amato spend $24.2 million in losing to Democrat Charles Schumer, who spent $16.7 million.

Last year, the Clinton camp set a fund-raising target of $25 million for the race while the Giuliani group said its goal was $15 million to $20 million.

While the mayor's fund-raising success has surprised some, the Clinton camp publicly maintains it is not worried.

"There is no doubt we are going to raise everything that we need to compete and win," said Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson. "We're going to be right on target."

Makinson said the reason for the big numbers in the New York Senate race is easy to figure out.

"There's such a thing as lightning rod races." he said. "This is a double lightning rod race. Both of the candidates are capable of stirring strong emotions in people."

That has been particularly helpful to Giuliani, Maknson said.

"Obviously, the first lady has a broader household recognition," he said. "There's nobody in the country who doesn't know who she is and probably there's nobody in the country who doesn't have strong feelings either for or against her and I think that's what Giuliani has tapped into."

In fact, in the first three months of this year, Giuliani spent more than $3.6 million on direct-mail fund raising, including about $1 million for the services of conservative direct-mail fund-raising guru Richard Viguerie.

That was aimed, according to Clinton, at raising money "from people who historically give money to Jerry Falwell or Ollie North or Jesse Helms."

The Giuliani camp dismisses that charge by saying Clinton still wants to blame all her troubles on the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" she said was responsible for her husband's impeachment woes.

Meanwhile, Giuliani has complained about Clinton's acceptance of campaign money from rap mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs who is under indictment on gun and bribery charges in connection with a shooting at a New York nightclub late last year.

"It's becoming very obvious that Mrs. Clinton is relying on Washington, special interest groups, Hollywood and donations from her real home state, rather than the grassroots support of genuine New Yorkers to bolster her campaign," Giuiliani spokeswoman Juleanna Glover Weiss said.

On Monday night, the first lady will join President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at a Manhattan hotel for a fund-raising event aimed at helping her and Gore as well as other Democrats.

Her campaign contribution list already reads like a Who's Who of celebrities with actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita giving $10,000, as did composer Quincy Jones and diet guru Dr. Dean Ornish and his wife Molly. The first lady got $2,000 from Christie Hefner, chief executive of the Playboy magazine empire.

"We're just trying to keep up with the Giuliani money machine," Wolfson said.