Leaders keep watch over Capito-Barth race

CHARLESTON -- West Virginia's highest-profile congressional race has attracted the attention, and the campaign cash, of leaders in both the U.S. House and Senate.

The latest Federal Election Commission postings show nearly half of Anne Barth's political action committee funds have come from fellow Democrats in both chambers as she seeks West Virginia's 2nd District seat.

Those supporters include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. They, other leadership and rank-and-file members have together provided about one-sixth of the $635,000 in total funds raised by Barth since she began her quest in late January.

"They tend to focus their money on the more competitive races," said Douglas Weber, a senior researcher at the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. "It's where they can do the most good."

Incumbent Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is being aided by congressional GOP sources, though not as much as in past elections.

House minority leaders and colleagues have provided about 15 percent of Capito's PAC funds. She has raised $1.4 million, with about 43 percent of that coming from PACs.

Capito had been a chief recipient of Republican leadership support during prior re-election battles, but is not among the top 20 House candidates for that source this year, according to CRP. Weber said that suggests the GOP had not considered her vulnerable, but that could change.

Noted national political analyst Charles Cook, for instance, upgraded the race from safely Republican to "Likely Republican" after West Virginia's May primary and then to "Lean Republican" earlier this month.

As she runs for a fifth term, the financial sector appears Capito's largest source of campaign cash. Banks, other lenders, investment firms and the like account for nearly 22 percent of her PAC funds.

Significant contributions have come from commercial bank PACs. Only a dozen other House candidates receiving more from that component of the financial sector, according to CRP's analysis of campaign finance filings.

Capito's seat on the House Financial Services Committee may account for some of this support, though she's receive more from these PACs that all but five of its 68 other members.

Her contributors also include Countrywide, Fannie Mae and other finance sector firms in the news and under scrutiny, providing ammo to Barth and the Democrats amid the national mortgage meltdown.

Countrywide, a leading subprime lender, has been blamed for helping to cause the markets-rocking waves of mortgage defaults and foreclosures. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a Capito donor as well, are the potential subject of a massive federal bailout amid fears of their financial collapse.

"Part of the desire of voters is a return to accountability," said Mark Ferrell, a Barth spokesman. "People will make judgments about who you're connected with in Washington."

Capito's largest single source is Citigroup, according to CRP. Its PAC, employees and their households have given her a total of $22,600. Only three other House members have received more from the nation's biggest bank by assets, which has been battered by the year-old credit crisis.

Capito and her campaign have bristled at the Democrats' rhetoric. Noting that none of her finance sector contributors have been found to have committed any wrongdoing, Capito has demanded an apology.

"We're aware that they're going to run a ridiculously negative campaign," said Kent Gates, a Capito campaign spokesman. "To make any kind of inference that there is some impropriety here is totally ridiculous given her clear, ethical eight years in Congress."

Gates also questioned the $14,000 Barth has accepted from Rep. Charles Rangel his leadership PAC, in light of recent press coverage of the New York Democrat.

Rangel has come under fire over his ownership of four rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. The units are all zoned as residences, but Rangel has been using one of them as his re-election office and paying its rent with campaign funds.

The Washington Post also reported last week that Rangel had written letters on congressional stationery and sought meetings with business leaders -- some with interests before his committee -- to help raise corporate and foundation contributions for a college research center named after him. Rangel has responded by urging the House Ethics Committee to review his efforts on behalf of the City College of New York's Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service.

Ferrell said that if Rangel is found to violated any laws, "we'll return the money, but we have no reason to believe he's done anything wrong."