Source: San Diego Union Tribune, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press
Reports differ about exactly how much money has been raised by the campaigns for and against Proposition 8 in California. But one thing is clear: Both sides are raising huge sums for the campaign. And big chunks of that money are being used to pay for active advertising buys for both side.
San Diego Union Tribune, which appears to be using the most recent figures, reports that a total of more than $50 million has been raised as of yesterday. Los Angeles Times still reports a total of just under $34 million. Associated Press sets the total at $41.2 million.
The varying reports reflect both the difficulty of reading official state figures and the delayed nature of financial reports from the campaigns.
But whatever the final totals turn out to be, it's clear that this is a very expensive issue even for California.
"This is the most expensive, non-economic-interest ballot issue anywhere in the country," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies.
Both sides have set aside more than $10 million for television advertisements and plan to start airing their second round of ads this week.
Ads sponsored by the primary campaign groups started running last month.
The No-on-8 campaign opened their TV campaign with a 30-second spot featuring a straight couple in a long-standing traditional marriage.
The Yes-on-8 campaign targeted justices on the high court - not gay couples - in their first TV advertisement, San Francisco Chronicle.
San Diego Union Tribune, which lists the highest total, reports that opponents have raised $28.6 million and supporters collected $21.4 million, according to figures reported with the state. Tallies are expected to increase because not all campaign reports due had been submitted as of late yesterday.
The initiative has drawn 30,785 contributions totaling more than $50 million, according to the California secretary of state late yesterday, according to the Union Tribune. Of those, 25,622 donations amounting to $36 million came from within the state.
Figures collated by Los Angeles Times show a lower total with an advantage to supporters of the marriage-equality ban. According to LA Times figures updated today, Prop. 8 supporters have raised $19.7 million. Opponents of the ban had raised $15.3 million, according to the Times.
With a month to go before the Nov. 4 election, both sides are expected to intensify fundraising.
"This is an issue for many people about what kind of society we are going to have," John Matsusaka, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, told San Diego Union Tribune.
He said both sides in the California campaign have reason to furiously secure donations. Proposition 8 supporters need to rally, according to recent polls that show the initiative losing. But, at the same time, they have a near-perfect track record in elections in other states.
Same-sex marriage supporters "have not been able to get a high-profile win from the electorate directly," Matsusaka said. "If you can get one in a huge state like California, that would be enormous. Both sides sense that. That's why they're sending everything they have into this battle."
The question of same-sex marriage splits Californians, forcing both campaigns to tiptoe through a political minefield in an attempt to avoid angering the swing voters each side needs to win Nov. 4.
While a Field Poll last month showed only 38 percent of likely voters backing Proposition 8, with 55 percent opposed, those figures may not reflect how Californians feel about same-sex marriage. A Field Poll in May, for example, found that 51 percent of registered voters opposed giving same-sex couples the right to wed.
A more recent telephone poll by Survey USA shows 44 percent support the measure, while 49 percent oppose it.
"If Californians were forced into a straight-up vote on same-sex marriage, we win," Jeff Flint, a political consultant for the Prop. 8 campaign, told San Francisco Chronicle.
But that's not what's on the ballot. Prop. 8 would overturn the California Supreme Court's ruling in May that gave same-sex couples the right to marry, and the measure asks voters to change the state Constitution to bar such nuptials.
The court decision changed everything for foes of Prop. 8. Instead of fighting a battle they lost eight years ago when Californians voted for a law that banned same-sex marriage, opponents of Prop. 8 can now argue that the groups behind the measure want to take away people's rights, San Francisco Chronicle reports.
That has allowed high-profile officials, including those who publicly oppose same-sex marriage such as Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, to come out against Prop. 8 as discriminatory against gays and lesbians.
"Californians won't be willing to take away rights the government already has granted," said Steve Smith, consultant for the No-on-8 campaign. "These are folks who are our neighbors, our co-workers, our family, people just like you and me."
In a TV spot now running across the state, Sam and Julia Thoron, a gray-haired couple married for 46 years, urge voters not to take away their lesbian daughter's right to marry.
"Don't eliminate that right for anyone's family," Julia Thoron says.
The Thorons "are absolutely the perfect folk to deliver the 'don't take rights away from our children' message," said Smith said. "They're telling voters not to take our friends and relatives and treat them differently."
The Thorons are also undeniably heterosexual, with three offspring and a batch of grandchildren, as a picture in the ad shows.
Smith said the anti-Prop. 8 campaign hasn't decided whether to feature a same-sex couple in a TV ad.
Backers of the measure see the ad as an effort to turn the election away from a referendum on same-sex marriage.
"They don't want to ask people to vote to approve same-sex marriage," Flint said. "Instead, they're writing that any discrimination for any reason is bad, so vote against (Prop. 8)."
One of the main targets of the pro-Prop. 8 campaign's first TV ad are the justices who voted to overturn Prop. 22 and allow same-sex marriage in California.
"Four judges ignored 4 million voters and imposed same-sex marriage on California," the ad says. "It's no longer about tolerance. Acceptance of gay marriage is now mandatory."
Prop. 8 gives voters a chance to overturn the bad decisions of activist judges, Flint told San Francisco Chronicle.
"People are tired of having their decisions overturned by the courts," he said.
California voters are not the only ones who will consider initiatives on same-sex marriage this year. Similar measures are on ballots in Florida and Arizona, but those measures are not attracting the high-rolling financing being funneled into California, San Diego Union Tribune reports.
The Arizona Capitol Times reported that supporters of a prohibition on same-sex marriage in that state have raised $7 million, compared with $400,000 for opponents. In Florida, supporters of a similar prohibition measure have raised about $236,000, compared with $26,000 for the opposition, according to the latest filings available.
In California, the vast majority of contributions are modest, but large donations are giving both sides the ability to wage major TV and radio campaigns.
Nine groups, led by $6.21 million contributed by Proposition 8 foe Equality California, have donated $1 million or more. Civil liberties groups, individual gay-rights advocates and some labor unions are also major contributors against the proposed ban on same-sex marriage.
Conservative groups, many of which have members in California but have out-of-state headquarters, have pumped in millions to promote Proposition 8. Among those contributors: Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage ($1.45 million), the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus ($1.27 million) and James Dobson's Focus on the Family ($450,000).
At a recent news conference, the Proposition 8 campaign also praised the eagerness of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to send donations. One campaign official said Mormons account for about one-third of the contributions.
But Bruce Bastian of Orem, Utah, who was once active in the Mormon church, used his wealth derived from the WordPerfect Software Co. to donate $1 million to the effort to reject Proposition 8.
Hollywood A-list celebrities, such as actor Brad Pitt ($100,000) and director Steven Spielberg ($50,000) also have contributed against Proposition 8. Supporters of the measure use such donations to fuel their fires.
"It's time to send a message to Hollywood and national liberals," Proposition 8 chairman Ron Prentice wrote in a fund-raising appeal.
The measure's supporters also claim that churches that don't marry gay couples could lose their tax deductions and children could be taught about same-sex marriage in school if Prop. 8 doesn't pass -- charges the measure's opponents vehemently deny.
Supporters of the initiative also are depending on backing from the Catholic Church, Mormons and other religious groups to bring out Prop. 8 supporters on election day.
Meanwhile, opponents are calling for boycotts against businesses donating money to Prop. 8 and touting the support of groups ranging from labor unions and the California Democratic Party to the NAACP and the ACLU.
Gay-rights supporters launched a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego and the Grand Del Mar after owner Doug Manchester donated $125,000 to support Proposition 8.
The same tactic is being used against an organic juice company linked to William Bolthouse, patriarch of a large Bakersfield farming operation. Bolthouse, a frequent contributor to conservative causes, gave $100,000 in support of Prop. 8.
Source: Personal beliefs fuel Prop. 8 fundraising | San Diego Union Tribune
Prop. 8 sides tread lightly for swing voters | San Francisco Chronicle
Tracking the money | Los Angeles Times
Gay marriage ban attracts big money in Calif. | Associated Press