Candidate Campaign Expenses (2012 Alberta Election): By the Numbers

The candidate campaign expenses were just released for the 2012 Alberta Election.  Unfortunately, Elections Alberta didn't release the data in the most user friendly form.  So, being the Poli Sci nerd I am, I took the liberty of transcribing the info into a more workable format (aka. Excel). 

After crunching the numbers, I've come up with the following stats.  

Just a note: these expenses only represent half the picture; once the parties' expenses are released we'll have a more accurate picture of what was spent overall. 

It is not very accurate to look at just these candidate expenditures because each party transfers money between candidates and party differently.  Also, the parties differ in which expenses they expect their candidates to absorb and which ones they'll cover.  So without further ado:

Total Spending by Candidates

PC - $5,237,510

WR - $2,376,387

Lib - $815,705

NDP - $560,985

AP - $164,786

Total: $9,155,373

Dollars Spent Per Vote Received

AP - $9.28

PC - $9.23

Lib - $6.39

WR - $5.37

NDP - $4.43

Top 5 Campaign Spenders - Calgary
 

1. Alison Redford (PC) - $154,346

2. Manmeet Bhullar (PC) - $133,295

3. Donna Kennedy-Glans (PC) - $125,723

4. James Cole (WR) - $123,647

5. Ken Hughes (PC) - $111,797

 

Top 5 Campaign Spenders - Edmonton
 

1. Dave Hancock (PC) - $121,233

2. Fred Horne (PC) - $108,327

3. Naresh Bhardwaj (PC) - $96,433

4. Peter Sandhu (PC) - $82,671

5. Gene Zwozdesky (PC) - $78,367

 

Top 5 Campaign Spenders - ROA

 

1. Ted Morton (PC) - $159,619

2. Don Scott (PC) - $110,955

3. Ray Danyluk (PC) - $109,344

4. George Vanderburg (PC) - $103,044

5. Doug Horner (PC) - $95,852
 

Highest Dollars Spent Per Vote Received (Successful Candidates)

1. Don Scott (PC) - $42.63

2. Pearl Calahasen (PC) - $22.09

3. Darshan Kang (Lib) - $21.31

4. Manmeet Bhullar (PC) - $20.40

5. Mike Allen (PC) - $19.89

Highest Dollars Spent Per Vote Received (Unsuccessful Candidates)

1. Rasheed Muhammad (PC) - $28.07

2. Ted Morton (PC) - $25.85

3. Vern Hardman (Lib) -$25.14

4. Kelly Norm (AP) - $23.18

5. Kevin McLean (Lib) - $22.91

Lowest Dollars Spent Per Vote Received (Successful Candidates)

1. Joe Anglin (WR) - $1.62

2. Jeff Wilson (WR) - $2.02

3. Jason Hale (WR) - $2.34

4. Gary Bikman (WR) - $2.36

5. Pat Stier (WR) - $2.39

Lowest Dollars Spent on Successful Campaigns ROA

1. Joe Anglin (WR) - $12,850

2. Gary Bikman (WR) - $14,913

3. Jason Hale (WR) - $19,557

4. Pat Stier (WR) - $20,983

5. Blake Pedersen (WR) - $21,279

Lowest Dollars Spent on Successful Campaigns Calgary

1. Jeff Wilson (WR) - $15,358

2. Sandra Jansen (PC) - $25,186

3. Rick Fraser (PC) - $26,329

4. Moe Amery (PC) - $27,149

5. Kyle Fawcett (PC) - $32,272

Lowest Dollars Spent on Successful Campaigns Edmonton

1. Janice Sarich (PC) - $17,283

2. Brian Mason (NDP) - $34,611

3. Deron Bilous (NDP) - $38,367

4. Laurie Blakeman (Lib) - $39,999

5. David Eggen (NDP) - $40,779

Ridings With Highest Total Campaign Expenditures (All Parties Expenses Combined)

1. Calgary-Elbow - $294,382

2. Edmonton-Rutherford - $210,413

3. Chestermere-Rockyview - $208,682

4. Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills - $198,210

5. Calgary-McCall - $198,152

Average Spending by All Candidates

	Liberal	NDP	Alberta	PC	Wildrose
Calgary	$13,801	$1,878	$1,390	$59,300	$37,501
Edmonton	$15,768	$20,460	$4,031	$62,976	$9,922
ROA	$4,557	$3,567	$707	$63,974	$30,775
Provincial	$9,211	$6,100	$3,691	$59,701	$26,815

Average Spending by Successful Candidates

Liberal	NDP	PC	Wildrose
$55,406	$47,930	$64,101	$36,165

Average Spending by Successful Candidates by Region

Calgary - $60,437

Edmonton - $65,804

ROA - $53,172

Average Dollars Spent Per Vote Received for Successful Candidates

Liberal	NDP	PC	Wildrose
$11.50	$6.87	$9.90	$4.59

Number of Ridings where the candidate who spent the most won: 65 (75%)

I was going to follow these numbers up with a bit of an analysis, but I think Dave Cournoyer hit on the most interesting parts.  Once the party numbers come out and we can combine total election expenses, we'll have a much fuller picture from which I can analyse spending in its entirety.

If you'd like to have a copy of the data in Excel, just e-mail me at shortrory@hotmail.com.