You can run your political campaign on charm, luck, savvy or brains, but if you are a winner, the campaign will run on money.

It is a political truism that the candidate with the most money wins. Money may not always bring victory, but coupled with incumbency, it is mostly a lock on the office.

The state Campaign Spending Commission ran the spreadsheets for the 2012 elections and filtered the top 10 races by cost per vote. Of those, the three highest cost-per-vote candidates lost.

At the top of the list was Colin Hanlon, a Maui Democrat who spent $46,272 in an attempt to win an open seat in the state House. But he got only 347 votes, breaking down to a cost of $133 per vote. His victorious Democratic opponent, Kaniela Ing, raised $33,000.

The top money collector in 2012 was Kirk Caldwell, who was elected mayor thanks to $1.7 million in direct collections.

In Hawaii, the historically most formidable political fundraiser is the incumbent governor.

The latest fundraising totals came out last week and they show that Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie has settled down into a fairly comfortable position, having collected $2.3 million for his campaign.

There is a comparison to be made between the campaigns of Abercrombie, the liberal Democrat, and former Gov. Linda Lingle, the middle-of-the-road Republican, because by their second terms voters know what they are getting, and donors know what it costs.

When you look at the finances of Lingle in August 2005, it shows that she had raised $1.3 million. The difference in her political take was that Lingle was sitting on a bigger leftover balance than Abercrombie.

Still, the power of gubernatorial incumbency shows as both Lingle and Abercrombie, with their re-election more than a year away, collected more than $3.3 million each.

There is, however, a difference in where Abercrombie is getting his money.

Lawyers and lobbyists are the biggest donors to Abercrombie, according to the nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics. The folks in the tassel- toed Guccis gave nearly $700,000 to Abercrombie.

Real-estate interests were the No. 1 donor to Lingle’s campaigns, with lawyers and lobbyists coming in third.

The second biggest special-interest group to give money to Abercrombie was construction services, with donations of $500,000, while Lingle’s second-biggest donor group was health professionals, giving almost $300,000.

In Lingle’s total re-election campaign, individuals gave the most, a total of almost $3 million.

Abercrombie’s campaign so far lists $1.6 million in contributions from individuals for his re-election effort. Of course, the campaign data isn’t filtered to show individuals who are also business owners or lobbyists.

Abercrombie has a long way to go in raising money in pursuit of the governor’s office. Lingle ran three times — two successfully — and according to Money in State Politics, she collected more than $15 million.

Abercrombie, with a gubernatorial campaign and a half under his belt, is counting around $6.5 million.

Lingle faced only token Democratic opposition, and although Democratic Sen. David Ige says he will mount a strong campaign against Abercrombie, there have not been the usual signs of a public fundraising effort.

With lobbyists, contractors, real estate interests and unions all significantly donating to Abercrombie, there may just not be a lot left for Ige.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.