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Providence Journal

By Scott Mayerowitz, The Providence Journal, R.I.

Oct. 11--Harrah's Entertainment continues to pump millions of dollars into its push for a Rhode Island casino -- spending $3.2 million last month alone.

That's about $106,000 a day.

In the last four months, the Las Vegas-based company has spent nearly $8.4 million trying to persuade voters to amend the state Constitution to allow it and the Narragansett Indian Tribe to build a casino in West Warwick.

Save Our State, the group fighting the casino, has spent $1.4 million to date. Most of its money has come from Lincoln Park and Newport Grand.

This is now the most expensive ballot race in Rhode Island history, according to Brown University political science Prof. Darrell M. West.

"I don't know any others that even come close," West said.

But even after spending millions of dollars, it appears that Harrah's has not won over Rhode Islanders. Two recent independent polls show people leaning against the casino.

"Harrah's is wasting their money," West said. "They're spending all this cash but the polls are not very favorable to their cause."

Rhode Island College released a poll yesterday showing 56 percent against the casino, 33 percent for it and 10 percent undecided. A poll West conducted in mid-September showed 55 percent against, 36 percent for and 9 percent undecided.

"All these millions are being spent on an electorate where 90 percent of the people have already made up their minds," West said. "They don't seem to be getting a lot of bang for their buck."

West said people tend to make up their minds early with "hot button" issues such as gambling, abortion and gay rights. Those undecided at this point are the least likely to vote, he said.

Save Our State executive director Timothy Costa said of Harrah's yesterday: "Since June they spent $8.4 million in their campaign to buy the state's Constitution and it appears from the polls . . . that the people of Rhode Island aren't buying it."

Clare Eckert, spokeswoman for Harrah's local campaign, Rhode Islanders for Jobs and Tax Relief, said, "Polls are polls. Polls go up and down."

She noted that the last Rhode Island College poll showed Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey leading U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee 51 percent to 34 percent. Two weeks later, Chafee went on to beat Laffey by 8 points.

Eckert said the casino's supporters are traditionally undersampled by pollsters.

Harrah's also says that 71 percent of its September spending was paid to Rhode Island businesses and residents.

The bulk of both sides' money -- as in any race -- went to buy time on local television stations, according to reports with the state Board of Elections. There were also newspaper and radio ads, polls and consultants, meals, hotels and airfare.

Harrah's also spent money on "community relations" -- giving $500 for the West Warwick Wizards Athletic Awards, $500 to the West Warwick Senior Center and another $500 to the Rhode Island International Film Festival. Another $600 was given to Progresso Latino. The Cape Verdean Progressive Center got $2,429.

For the primary election, Harrah's hired 85 people at $125 each to stand outside polling locations handing out leaflets and holding signs asking people to support the casino even though there was nothing about the casino on the primary ballot.

The anti-casino forces stepped up their efforts last month. Before September, they had only spent $193,000. Last month, that figure jumped to $1.2 million, most of it coming from Lincoln Park and Newport Grand.

Most of that money went for ads, mailings, payroll and polls.

Lincoln Park also paid the Maine public relations firm Savvy Inc. $15,455 to consult on the race and do polls, according to track spokeswoman Cynthia Stern. Firm president Dennis Bailey worked against a 2003 casino proposal in Maine. He said the situation there was very similar: a Las Vegas casino company partnering with local Indian tribes to build a casino. The proposal there failed 2 to 1.

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