Sacramento - While Proposition 73 activists assess whether to resurrect their proposal for a future ballot, some say a key part of Tuesday's loss was a weak, underfunded campaign.

The measure, which would require parental notification before a minor had an abortion, lost by 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent. Proponents raised just over $2 million, of which $1.1 million was used to gather signatures for the qualifying petition, according to the campaign. Opponents topped $5 million.

"It was clear we didn't have the resources to win a campaign," said Mike Spence, a board member of the California Pro-Life Council and president of the California Republican Assembly. "The people who put this on the ballot didn't have a strategy to match Planned Parenthood's campaign."

Also contributing to the defeat was the general "no" sentiment of voters - who rejected all eight statewide measures - and the strong turnout of union members and Democrats, said Spence and other proponents interviewed for this story.

But Spence said the election could have been won if there had been a better-financed, more aggressive campaign.

"We don't have to match (opponents) dollar for dollar, but it has to be close," Spence said.

He added that a subsequent effort will be more difficult because opponents, led by Planned Parenthood, built a foundation by selling their message to voters this time.

"Planned Parenthood knew exactly what they were doing," said Fountain Valley's Bob Cielnicky, a board member of Crusade for Life. He said that a better-funded campaign by proponents, with the right message "absolutely" would have resulted in Prop. 73 winning.

While opponents raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from throughout the country - much of it from Planned Parenthood affiliates - proponents largely relied on the $1.1 million chipped in by San Diego newspaper publisher Jim Holman, who launched the Prop. 73 effort. Anti-abortion-rights activists elsewhere in the country sat on their hands for the most part.

"Nationwide, activists didn't place a high priority on this," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "They were tired from last year's presidential election and are gearing up for next year's congressional elections. And in other states, the church population would have had a greater effect. There are fewer evangelicals in California, and many of the Catholics are Hispanic and tend to be Democrats."

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Kimberlee Ward also said that proponents ran a weak campaign.

"I think the proponents thought they could just put this on the ballot and win," said Ward, a vice president of the organization's affiliate in Orange and San Bernardino counties.

"They didn't have much of a ground operation and they didn't really campaign outside of the church."

Ward said that more money may have gotten proponents more votes, but doubted there was a realistic scenario where the measure would win.

"I think California voters made it clear they rejected Proposition 73," she said. "I think the fact that they couldn't raise more money reflects the lack of support."

Ward's view is brushed aside by proponents. They argue that they made significant strides by getting 47 percent of the vote in a pro-abortionrights state where a 2004 Field Poll showed just 22 percent of Californians favored further restrictions on abortion.

"I'm sustained by the closeness of the margin," Cielnicky said, acknowledging that a major question behind whether to try again will be whether larger sums can be raised. "This is not the first defeat for us. You catch your breath, assess what was done right, what else needed to be done."

"This will be back in the future," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families. "It's just going to take more money. It's going to take more education."