Well-heeled donors across the political divide are throwing piles of money at Tuesday's primary election, with the heaviest efforts aimed at unseating both a maverick Democratic state senator and the Supreme Court's longtime chief justice.

The spending blitz has heated up a potentially ho-hum election, with many waiting to see if flashy TV ads, slick mailers and ubiquitous robo-calls can tip the balance and set a new high mark for some formerly low-key races.

In Olympia and around the state, Chief Justice Gerry Alexander is fighting for his Supreme Court career against a $1.6 million assault led by the aggressive Building Industry Association of Washington.

Alexander and his supporters have responded with their own $500,000 campaign, but even Alexander backers concede it may be too late to counter the challenger's firepower.

"There is no way you can compete with what the BIAW did, launching the guns of Navarone," said attorney Jenny Durkan, co-chairwoman of the Alexander-supporting Citizens to Uphold the Constitution.

The construction industry's candidate is John Groen, a Bellevue property rights lawyer and BIAW member. Groen amassed a $390,000 personal fund, and didn't voluntarily adhere to new donation limits before they took effect. The race will be settled in the primary, with the winner advancing alone to the November ballot.

He's also gotten a geyser of third-party help: Building industry donors had spent more than $900,000 on Groen's behalf as of late last week, cementing their status as the dominant force in Supreme Court elections.

Add to that another $350,000 from the Washington, D.C.-area Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse, backed by the national tort-reform movement.

Along with hefty price tags, the tone of the anti-Alexander advertising also has been striking. The campaign was led by hard-hitting TV pieces portraying Alexander as old, out of touch and too sympathetic to fellow Justice Bobbe Bridge following her 2003 drunken driving arrest.

Groen, meanwhile, was lauded for his commitment to property rights and getting tough on criminals.

Even with money-raising help from Gov. Chris Gregoire and big donations from unions and American Indian tribes, Alexander's supporters seem unable to match the BIAW's efforts.

"I think this is John Groen's race to lose," said Sue Evans, spokeswoman for Citizens to Uphold the Constitution.

Losing Alexander would represent a looming loss of public trust in the judicial system, Durkan said.

"Courts are not supposed to be a political playground, and if people think they are, they'll quit using them," she said.

The BIAW, however, maintains that it's merely exercising its freedom of political speech.

Lawyers had no problem with the money that financed court races in years past, when only upper-crust attorneys paid much attention, BIAW spokeswoman Erin Shannon said.

"The trial attorneys the legal community had the sandbox all to themselves," she said. "Now there are other people in the sandbox and they just don't like it. But they'd better get used to it."

Meanwhile, in the 35th Legislative District, state Sen. Tim Sheldon is facing an uncommonly expensive primary challenge from Democrats fed up with his Republican tendencies.

The state party has sent in Kyle Taylor Lucas, a business owner and former Indian affairs director under Gov. Gary Locke, to reclaim the district.

Lucas also has received a flood of financial help. A group called Working Families Who Have Had Enough has spent about $200,000 on the campaign, with its biggest donations coming from the Washington, D.C.-based liberal group Progressive Majority.

The Service Employees International Union also has come out spending for Lucas, and has a connection to Progressive Majority: the national SEIU is the D.C. political group's third-largest donor this year, according to federal campaign records.

Sheldon, whose constituents have sent him to the statehouse seven times, concedes this is the toughest challenge of his career. But he says voters know his record and won't bend to pressure from party leaders.

Though she just moved back into her hometown legislative district earlier this year - and is staying at a rental owned by Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton - Lucas says she has a better feeling for the pulse of voters.

Yes, the money helps. But it's just another indication of how fed up people are with Sheldon's voting record, Lucas said.

"I think it's not so much that people have sent him back to Olympia overwhelmingly, but rather that there was no alternative," Lucas said. "There's just not been any opposition That's the difference in this race."

Sheldon has never been one to bite his tongue, visibly supporting such Republican nameplates as President Bush and almost-governor Dino Rossi. He's now responding to heavy spending from the left with his own advertisements, drawing from a much heftier personal campaign fund than Lucas.

But it's also Sheldon's first twirl with the new pick-a-party primary, which could cut into the crossover voting that presumably has helped in a ticket-splitting district that includes parts of Kitsap, Mason, Grays Harbor and Thurston counties.

A few words of warning, though, for die-hard D's salivating over the prospect of finally dumping Sheldon:

-It's been tried before, and it didn't work - sort of. In 2004, the SEIU failed to pick off Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, in the primary, although the union didn't have the backing of the state party.

-Sheldon's 2004 election to the Mason County Commission as an Independent indicates he might well be a very solid party of one who knows his blue-collar district better than the Seattle and D.C. establishment.

Sheldon predicts he will beat Lucas on Democrat votes alone, but says crossovers from Republicans - encouraged in part by a recent National Rifle Association mailing - will add to his margin.

"I haven't heard the average guy out there buying this garbage," Sheldon says of the campaign to take him out. "They don't like negative campaigns - especially big campaigns funded from Washington, D.C."