U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's winning re-election campaign outspent his opposition by more than 2 to 1 for every vote received in Saturday's primary election, according to spending totals provided by each campaign.

Akaka's camp said it spent about $2.2 million on advertising and other campaign expenses, or just more than $17 for each of the 129,107 votes Akaka received.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case's campaign said it spent about $900,000 on Case's unsuccessful bid to unseat Akaka, or more than $8 for each of the 107,115 votes Case garnered.

Case's father and campaign treasurer, James Case, said the timing of donations mattered at least as much as the amounts collected — especially since more than one-third of voters cast absentee ballots before election day.

"Akaka's money came in early, and he was able to get into the media before we did," James Case said. "We weren't able to get to the absentee voters as quickly. He would have won anyway, but the absentees really carried the day for him and were the biggest factor in his win."

Akaka's campaign manager, Andy Winer, agreed that rounding up early votes was a key element of their strategy. But another part was to quickly draw attention to differences between Case and Akaka, he said.

"We believed we had an opportunity to stake out positions early, especially regarding the war in Iraq," Winer said.

Akaka was an early and consistent opponent of the war, and called for a U.S. withdrawal by next year. Case had warned that a premature and scheduled withdrawal could invite disaster.

In the last few days before the election, the Akaka campaign worked aggressively to encourage voter turnout among likely supporters who haven't consistently participated in elections, Winer said.

"My sense is that (Case) didn't have much of a ground force, and we clearly did," such as volunteers making phone calls to voters and campaigning door-to-door, he said.

But political action committees also independently spent big money on behalf of each candidate, mostly to buy advertising.

The National Association of Realtors PAC spent more than $600,000 on television and mail advertising supporting Case, for example, while the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees spent $100,000 on advertising to help Akaka.

Akaka also received help from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which sent out thousands of mailers and absentee ballot applications to likely Akaka voters. The mailers featured U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye — whose campaign committee donated $300,000 to the committee — urging voters to cast mail-in absentee ballots.