MacArthur-Belgard spending running fairly even

Despite Republican Tom MacArthur's personal wealth, the campaign-spending battle between him and Democrat Aimee Belgard has been surprisingly close, thanks to national Democrats' investment in the South Jersey congressional race, the most hard-fought House contest in the region.

MacArthur, a former insurance industry executive, spent $1.9 million (much of it his own money) in July, August, and September in his run for the seat representing much of Burlington and Ocean Counties, according to campaign filings released Wednesday. He has given his campaign $2 million during the general election.

Belgard, a lawyer and Burlington County freeholder, spent about $590,000 over the same three months, her campaign said.

But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee helped by pouring $1.2 million into the race to attack MacArthur and close the spending gap. (The comparisons are not exact: The DCCC total includes amounts spent in October; the candidate reports go only through Sept. 30.)

With the retirement of the Third District's Republican incumbent, Jon Runyan, national Democrats see the South Jersey race as one of the few in the country where they can play offense and try to gain a GOP-held seat Nov. 4.

The question is whether Democrats and Belgard can keep pace in the campaign's closing weeks.

MacArthur, who made about $500 million by selling his former insurance firm, would seem to have the resources to dig even deeper into his own pockets, and two conservative groups - the American Action Network and the Karl Rove-aligned Crossroads GPS - have booked $1.8 million of airtime for the race's final weeks.

In addition, on Wednesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched its first ad in the race, backing MacArthur with a "six-figure" ad buy on cable television in the Philadelphia and New York markets. The ad is scheduled to run for 10 days, the chamber said.

The DCCC, on the other hand, has begun canceling ad buys in races around the country and redirecting money to protect endangered incumbents. Two Pennsylvania candidates - Kevin Strouse in Bucks County and Manan Trivedi in Chester County - saw their DCCC TV support yanked last week.

It's unclear whether Belgard's ad support also could be cut.

Despite a Monmouth University poll this week showing MacArthur leading by 10 points, national Democrats insist that their internal polls show the race within striking distance. But the party is scrambling to ensure it doesn't lose its incumbents in a year tilting toward Republicans, and is pulling money from challengers to help protect the seats it already holds.

Campaigns typically have to give two weeks' notice before canceling ad buys, so any changes the DCCC plans would have to come soon.

MacArthur had $561,000 on hand as of Sept. 30, his new campaign filing showed. He lent his campaign $1 million in the last quarter and raised an additional $346,000 from donations.

Belgard had about $600,000 left after raising $580,000 in the same period, her campaign said.

Overall, MacArthur has put $4 million of his own money into his run. (He lent his campaign $2 million during a hard-fought GOP primary and then another $2 million through Sept. 30 for the general election contest against Belgard.)

He has raised $4.5 million total, including from his own pocket, and spent around $4 million combined in the primary and general election.

Belgard has raised $1.4 million overall and spent about $800,000. Unlike MacArthur, she had little primary opposition and did not have to spend heavily to win her party nomination.

In the race for another South Jersey district, based in Atlantic County, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.) has a huge cash lead, Wednesday's campaign filing showed.

LoBiondo had $1.5 million on hand for the race's home stretch, compared with $133,500 for Democrat William Hughes Jr.