Virginia Senate Race Vies for Spending Record Too : Campaigns: North has raised $15 million so far, to $4 million for Robb. In the coffer contest, California rivals are tops, though, at $27 million.

WASHINGTON —  In addition to the record-setting spending in California’s Senate race, Virginia’s race between Republican Oliver L. North and Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb may also go into the spending record books.

North, who built a huge direct-mail fund-raising network initially to pay for his defense in the trial growing out of the Iran-Contra scandal and then for political purposes, so far has raised $15.1 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Incumbent Robb has raised a little more than $4 million. That may look small in comparison with North’s money, but it is more than Robb raised during the entire 1988 campaign.

The previous record for Senate campaign spending was $25.9 million, set in North Carolina in the 1984 contest between GOP Sen. Jesse Helms and Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. But Rep. Mike Huffington (R-Santa Barbara) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) already have spent more than $27 million in their race for the Senate so far this year.

In the Virginia race, North and Robb are in a dead heat, tied in several recent polls, with independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman far behind. Although North has raised far more than Robb, he also has spent large sums on maintaining his direct-mail effort. As a result, the two may have roughly similar resources for the final stretch of the campaign. Both have been advertising heavily on television, including the relatively expensive Washington media market, which covers the northern part of Virginia.

Other closely watched Senate races generally show candidates of both parties spending heavily, with Republican challengers fully able to match the spending of Democratic incumbents.

In Tennessee, in the closely contested race between Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper and Republican Fred Thompson, each has raised more than $3 million. Thompson, a lawyer and actor who first gained prominence as the Republican counsel in the Senate Watergate inquiry, ended September with $515,000 in cash on hand while Cooper had $905,000. The Republican candidate raised more money than the Democrat during the summer. The two are seeking the seat that Vice President Al Gore vacated.

In Massachusetts, both Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and his challenger, Republican Mitt Romney, have substantial personal fortunes, allowing them to match each other’s spending in a relatively small state.

Kennedy had $2.3 million in cash on hand at the end of the reporting period. Romney already had lent his campaign $2 million and has been reported to be willing to spend at least another $2 million of his own funds in his quest for Kennedy’s seat. The most recent polls show Kennedy with a small lead.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford has a sizable edge over his challenger, GOP Rep. Rick Santorum in money on hand. Wofford had $2 million in cash as of Sept. 30, according to the latest FEC filings, while Santorum had $1 million.

However, Santorum’s fund raising picked up substantially during the summer as the race tightened, indicating that he may be able to match the incumbent’s spending in the campaign’s closing weeks. Recent polls have shown the two candidates even.