PHOENIX — In the race for Arizona Corporation Commission,

 Tuesday’s primary election suggests that having more money than your foe is better than not — certainly on the Democratic side.

 Preliminary results show that Sam George, Paul Newman and Sandra Kennedy, running as a slate, each getting more votes than Kara Kelty. That would advance the three of them to the genera election to fill three open seats on the five-member panel tha regulates rates of investor-owned utilities.

 On paper, they all had about the same amount of money. But th difference was how the winners got to pool it.

 And the key is public financing.

 Candidates from both parties who take public funds are each entitled to $82,680. That amount was given to Newman, Kennedy an Kelty.

 But the law also says that if any privately financed contender spends more, than their primary foes get a dollar-for-dolla match, up to three times that figure.

 George, running with his own funds, reported spending more tha $290,000. That, in turn, triggered the fund match provision, giving the other three a total of more than $248,000.

 Newman and Kennedy, however, were running as a team with George.

 That means they then got to pool the resources that George helpe trigger, providing them with more than $750,000 for their campaign, including extensive last-minute television advertising.

 Kelty had only her own $248,000 for her campaign.

 On the Republican side, John Allen, Marian McClure, Bob Stump and Barry Wong all took the public dollars. But that’s all they got: none of the other four contenders using private dollars — Rick Fowlkes, Joseph Hobbs, Bob Robson and Keith Swapp — reported spending more than that $82,680 to provide matching funds for the publicly financed contenders.

 Here, too, that financial advantage of the publicly finance contenders showed as preliminary results showed Stump far in the lead, followed by McClure and Wong, though Allen was a close 4th.

 Democrats hope to make some inroads into the commission which now is populated only by Republicans. The three Republicans who now

 occupy the seats, Bill Mundell, Mike Gleason and Jeff

 Hatch-Miller, all are retiring; Gary Pierce and Kris Mayes have

 another two years on their terms.

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 Tally with 99.4% of precincts reporting:

 (Top three in each party advance to general election)

 Democrat:

 George — 22.5% — 120,810

 Kelty — 20.3% — 109,249

 Kennedy — 30.9% — 165,996

 Newman — 26.2% — 140,868

 Republican:

 Allen — 12.7% — 91,600

 Fowlkes — 9.3% — 66,600

 Hobbs — 10.9% — 78,220

 McClure — 14.7% — 105,570

 Robson — 10.4% — 74,845

 Stump — 21.5% — 154,809

 Swapp — 7.8% — 56,279

 Wong — 12.9% — 92,606