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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Sen. Orrin Hatch's bid for a sixth term looks as much like a corporation as a political campaign.
He has a bevy of professional advisers and a $2.5 million bankroll -- and that's after he has already spent $1.7 million on the re-election bid since 2005, a newspaper reported.
Democratic challenger Pete Ashdown reported having just $13,000 in a June disclosure report, after spending $79,000 on his long-shot bid.
When it comes to polling and raising money, Hatch is so far ahead of Ashdown that winning re-election in November seems almost like a sideshow for the incumbent, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday in a copyright story on Hatch's well-oiled campaign machine.
On Thursday, President Bush, who plans to be in Salt Lake City for an American Legion convention, will help Hatch raise even more money at a reception at the Grand America Hotel.
"You can never have enough money in the D.C. power game," said Kirk Jowers, the director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.
A poll commissioned by The Tribune of 625 registered voters last week had 61 percent supporting Hatch, with only 27 percent saying they'd vote for Ashdown. The poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Ashdown, president of Internet service provider XMission, knows the odds against him.
"Somebody told me American politics runs on two things: money, and they couldn't remember the second thing," he said. "That is a bad situation."
The Tribune said the biggest chunk of Hatch's campaign spending goes to consultants, a group headed by campaign manager Dave Hansen, a veteran of state and federal races who earns $10,000 a month.
Hatch confidant Mac Christensen, who owns the dress-suit chain of Mr. Mac stores and is president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, pulls down $3,000 a month as one of two campaign chairmen who help Hatch raise money.
The other chairman is Stan Parrish, Hatch's former chief of staff and Christensen's former Tabernacle Choir assistant, who also makes $3,000 a month.
Among other Hatch campaign aides are former Utah Republican Chairman Larry Lunt, and Sen. Bob Bennett's son, Jim Bennett, manages Hatch's Web site for $2,500 a month.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
