Four campaign finance takeaways
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WASHINGTON -- The latest fundraising numbers from congressional campaigns have shed a little more light on where things stand in some of Minnesota's most closely-watched races. Here's a deeper dive into what some of those numbers mean.
1) Targeted races make for flush coffers
Republicans are pouring resources into the 7th and 8th Congressional Districts to unseat DFL Reps. Collin Peterson and Rick Nolan. While the challengers, state Sen. Torrey Westrom and Stewart Mills, are relatively well-funded, the tight race has led to Democratic donors flooding the coffers of Peterson and Nolan.
Both reported their strongest fundraising quarters ever and each has a nearly a two-to-one cash advantage over their Republican rivals. It's always worth remembering that money isn't everything in a campaign and may not be enough to compensate for a seemingly tough election season for Democrats.
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2) John Kline and Erik Paulsen have lots of campaign cash
Second District Rep. John Kline and neighboring 3rd District Rep. Erik Paulsen have amassed small fortunes in their campaign accounts. Kline has more than $1.75 million while Paulsen holds $1.5 million.
Both are members of a very small club: Republicans representing congressional districts whose voters chose Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012. From time to time, Democrats have promised to aggressively contest both districts. Kline, who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, and Paulsen, who sits on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and have used those assignments to augment their fundraising.
Those large war chests seem to be one of the reasons why the national Democrats have shied away from putting resources into either race. Still, 2nd District DFL candidate Mike Obermueller is running a spirited campaign and trying to improve upon his eight point loss to Kline two years ago.
3) The Super PAC cavalry is not riding to Mike McFadden's rescue
DFL Sen. Al Franken has a large financial edge over his Republican opponent, Mike McFadden, and there's been speculation that spending by Republican outside groups would equalize the race.
Earlier this year, Republican political operatives formed a super PAC (which can collect unlimited donations so long as it doesn't directly coordinate with a campaign) called the Heartland Campaign Fund to aid McFadden against Franken.
The latest Federal Election Commission reports show that group collected just $3,500 in the last quarter and is down to less than $3,000 in the bank. Another group that doesn't have to disclose its donors has spent more than $340,000 on online ads against Franken but has not yet aired TV ads.
4) Michele Bachmann's PAC is still raising money
Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann will leave Congress at the end of this term but she's been making it clear she plans to remain an active voice in conservative politics.
Her political action committee has continued to ask for contributions to "make a real difference as we rush additional resources into key U.S. Senate and House races" as one recent fundraising appeal put it. But as of Sept. 30, Bachmann has given just $5,000 to candidates out of the $123,000 her PAC has raised in 2014.
In an interview Thursday, Bachmann said she would be giving more money to candidates soon but didn't give more details.