Pac Money

HYATTSVILLE -- When Tom Bacote and his five volunteers walked into Ebony Barbers to talk with the clientele yesterday, their message was simple: Be sure to vote on Tuesday. That all the customers and 12 of the 13 barbers - all African-Americans - were supporters of Barack Obama was beside the point. Bacote's get-out-the-vote effort in Prince George's County, underwritten by a San Francisco-based advocacy group called PowerPAC, is part of an eight-state campaign to increase voter turnout in African-American communities for the presidential primaries.

Members of the national Realtors Political Action Committee raised $6 million over the past two years to support federal candidates, the lobbying group said this month. The PAC, which is supported by the National Association of Realtors, contributed $3.9 million to federal candidates in 2001-2002. Those total contributions were the largest of any PAC in the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal donations to political candidates. The PAC contributed money to 30 U.S. Senate candidates and 422 House candidates.

ANNAPOLIS -- Big money continued to flash its political power in Maryland over the last four years as PACs pumped money into the hands of incumbent lawmakers at a pace 71 percent higher than four years ago, according to a report released yesterday by Maryland Common Cause.Overall, Maryland's 250 political action committees contributed $3 million to General Assembly candidates during the 1990 election, with incumbents receiving $2.4 million of the total.The money always comes with strings attached, according to Phil Andrews, executive director of Common Cause in Maryland.

Washington. -- Special interests are threatened by President Clinton's attempt to curb the flood of private funds into political campaign chests. They spin a surprisingly thick web of defensive rationalizations. Here is an offering of responses:''Campaign contributions buy only access, not votes.'' Given the very limited amount of time elected officials have to meet with their constituents, to be able to buy access will disadvantage all those who do not have deep pockets.''Do you really believe that politicians would sell their votes for a mere $5,000, the maximum a political-action committee can give?

Frederick Democrat Don DeArmon, an aide to a North Carolina congressman, has begun raising money to challenge Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett for the 6th District congressional seat.Mr. DeArmon, 38, said he will not accept contributions from political action committees and will focus on "pocketbook" issues such as health care, education and crime.He said he has raised $12,000.Campaign finance reform will be a priority, he said."My experience on Capitol Hill led to my decision to refuse PAC money," he said.

In the first face-to-face meeting of their low-key campaign yesterday, Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest and his Democratic opponent Del. Bennett Bozman mostly agreed to agree. Voters who watched the amicable exchange on Maryland Public Television - which is sponsoring a series of congressional debates with the state's League of Women Voters - heard only minor differences separating the 1st District moderates on key issues such as education, health care, national defense, prescription medicine and Medicare reform.

Frederick Democrat Don DeArmon, an aide to a North Carolina congressman, has begun raising money to challenge Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett for the 6th District congressional seat.Mr. DeArmon, 38, said he will not accept contributions from politicalaction committees and will focus on "pocketbook" issues such as health care, education and crime.He said last week he has raised $12,000.Campaign finance reform will be a priority, he said. "My experience on Capitol Hill led to my decision to refuse PAC money," he said.

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele collected $853,350 for his U.S. Senate bid during the last three months of 2005, outpacing Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin during the period, according to fundraising figures released by the campaigns yesterday. Cardin, a Democrat, raised nearly $800,000 in the final quarter of last year, and had more than $2.1 million in the bank for the contest to replace retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, his campaign said. Cardin appears to have maintained his overall fundraising lead in the race, particularly over a growing field of Democratic rivals - several of whom have not yet released reports that are due at the Federal Election Commission Jan. 31. A cash-on-hand figure for Steele, a Republican, was not available yesterday, but his campaign said he had raised $1.27 million since he began considering the race.

EASTON -- Maryland Congress man Tom McMillen has enlisted the aid of an unusual campaign ally -- a squawking radio character named Pete the Parrot -- to bash his opponent in the tight race for the 1st District congressional seat.In an ad that began airing yesterday on radio stations throughout the 1st District, Pete the Parrot accuses Republican incumbent Wayne T. Gilchrest of breaking a pledge to refuse money from special interest or campaign groups as well as a promise to distribute his congressional pay raise to charities.

WASHINGTON -- Liberal Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and her conservative GOP Senate challenger, Alan Keyes, finally have something in common. They both collected the majority of their large campaign contributions from outside Maryland.During the first six months of this year, Ms. Mikulski received 55 percent of her large donations -- those over $200 -- from out of state. The figure for Mr. Keyes was 72 percent, Federal Election Commission records show.For Ms. Mikulski, that means $109,979 of the $199,626 she received in large contributions between Jan. 1 and June 30 was from outsiders.