Money lines drawn

Steve Pearce, the Hobbs oilman, and Tom Udall, the Santa Fe lawyer, are drawing from typical sources in their Senate campaigns.

LAS CRUCES -- In the U.S. Senate race, the top contributing industry to Republican Steve Pearce’s campaign is oil and gas, while lawyers are the top givers to Democrat Tom Udall’s campaign.

That’s no surprise, said New Mexico pollster and analyst Brian Sanderoff. Lawyers tend to give more to Democrats than Republicans, and the oil and gas industry tends to give more to Republicans.

“That’s complemented by the fact that Tom Udall is an attorney and Steve Pearce comes from the oil and gas industry,” Sanderoff said.

Udall had raised a little more than $3.2 million for his Senate campaign as of May 14, the date of the most recent financial information available on the money-in-politics Web site OpenSecrets.org. Pearce, meanwhile, had raised almost $1.9 million as of that date.

Lawyers and law firms had contributed $366,042 to Udall’s Senate campaign as of May 14, according to OpenSecrets.org. Democratic and liberal groups were the second largest givers, pitching in $332,230. Retirees, leadership political action committees and the real-estate industry rounded out the top five industries to contribute to the Udall campaign.

The oil and gas industry gave $201,434 to Pearce’s Senate campaign as of May 14, according to the Web site. Republican and conservative groups pitched in $120,483. Retirees, the dairy industry and the real-estate industry rounded out the top five industries to contribute to Pearce’s campaign.

The Udall campaign had no comment for this article. Pearce spokesman Brian Phillips had no comment other than to say he wanted the article to examine contributions to Pearce from the oil and gas industry and to Udall from lawyers in the context of their overall fundraising. He said those contributions added up to a few percent of their total fundraising, and said that context “is extremely important.”

About 9 percent of Pearce’s contributions since the 2004 election cycle have come from the oil and gas industry. Though Pearce was first elected in 2002, 2004 is the first election cycle included in the OpenSecrets.org analysis. The same is true of Udall: About 9 percent of his total contributions since the 2000 election cycle have come from lawyers, according to information available on the Web site. Udall was first elected in 1998.

Sanderoff said there are some exceptions to the generality about oil and gas supporting Republicans and lawyers supporting Democrats. But he said, in general, Republicans tend to be more supportive of tort reform and capping damages in industries including health care, which drives lawyers to more often support Democrats.

Conversely, Republicans tend to be more supportive of increased domestic oil and gas development, so the industry tends to be friendlier to the GOP, Sanderoff said.

Other members of the N.M. delegation

Among the New Mexico delegation, Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman fits the stereotype. Bingaman, who like Udall is an attorney, had raised a little more than $4.1 million during the current election cycle as of May 14. Lawyers had given more to his campaign than any other industry -- $442,428, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Both oil and gas and lawyers appear on the list of the top five industries to give to the campaign of the retiring Republican Sen. Pete Domenici during the current election cycle, in which Domenici had raised $2.8 million as of May 14. The oil and gas industry came in second on the list of the top industry contributors, giving $169,700. Lawyers came in fourth, giving $113,550. Domenici is also a lawyer.

Republican Rep. Heather Wilson has not fit the stereotype during the current election cycle, in which she had raised $2.3 million as of May 14. Oil and gas was not among her top five industry contributors as of that date, but lawyers came in third, giving $72,350.

But that hasn’t been the case throughout Wilson’s career. During every other election cycle, oil and gas was one of her top five industry contributors but lawyers were not, according to OpenSecrets.org. This year, Wilson lost to Pearce, the Hobbs oilman, in the Senate primary, whereas in past election cycles she was running against Democrats in general elections.

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