AZ SENATE RACE ALREADY GETTING EXPENSIVE

posted by Michael Chihak

Campaign financing reports for U.S. Senate in Arizona show more than $3.7 million in hand for three candidates. And that's just the beginning, a political and campaign analyst predicts.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports that Republican Jeff Flake, now a member of Congress, had the most in hand as of the end of September, $2.3 million.

The Capitol Times also reports that Republican Wil Cardon had $1.1 million, including $770,000 of his own money, and Democrat Don Bivens had $325,000.

Flake brought in the most in the third quarter, $556,000. Cardon and Bivens also raised significant sums. Cardon brought in $402,000. Bivens raised $325,000 in six weeks following his candidacy announcement.

Norman J. Ornstein, a research scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an expert on campaign financing, predicts in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week that the campaign will get much more expensive, driven perhaps by groups not directly affiliated with the candidates.

"We're going to see millions poured into advertising," Ornstein says. " ... So brace yourselves. For the commercial television stations, it's going to be a great year, because they're going to get full-priced or even premiums paid for advertising. For the rest of us, it's going to be awful."

Watch the full interview with Ornstein Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST on PBS-HD-6.