WASHINGTON — Today was the last major deadline for candidates to report fundraising and spending totals for the 2012 election, so we’ve got one last look at where things stood money-wise on Nov. 6.
I’ve already covered Michele Bachmann (the Cliff Notes: she raised $15 million for her re-election campaign, spent $4 million in the last month, and paid down most of the debt from her presidential campaign), but here are some highlights from the rest of the state:
- Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 26, Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack spent twice as much ($1.6 million) as challenger Rick Nolan ($800,000), en route to a 9-point loss on Election Day. Cravaack also doubled-up Nolan in the total raised column ($2.4 million to $1.2 million).
- Speaking of Nolan, he took on $75,000 worth of debt over the last month of the campaign. More than half of that ($41,000) comes from “win bonuses” owed to campaign operatives.
- Thanks to a more moderate district and a stronger, better-funded opponent than he’s used to, Rep. John Kline spent more than twice as on his 2012 campaign as he did in 2010. He won by 8.2 points — a comfortable margin, but also the slimmest of his career.
So, here’s a brief look at Minnesota’s congressional incumbents and their money situation:
Tim Walz raised $2 million this cycle and spent $1.7 million on his campaign. Walz has $128,000 in the bank for a run in 2014 — a much better position than he found himself in after the 2010 elections, when he ended the campaign in debt. Walz won by 15 points over Republican Allen Quist.
John Kline has more than $550,000 on hand, a tally he can transfer to a potential U.S. Senate campaign in 2014 (Kline has been mentioned as a potential challenger to Sen. Al Franken. His advisers say he’s keeping his options open). Kline spent $1.7 million on his re-election campaign, $1.1 million more than challenger Mike Obermueller.
Erik Paulsen is also considered a potential statewide candidate in 2014. He has more than $770,000 on hand, the largest sum of any Minnesotan not named Michele Bachmann.
Franken, for the record, had more than $1 million in the bank at the end of September, the most recent information available on the Federal Elections Commission website.
Betty McCollum was the only congressional incumbent in Minnesota to raise less than $1 million. She had a 30-point margin of victory, proving (as if you needed proof) that money isn’t generally important if you’re a Democrat running for Congress in St. Paul.
Keith Ellison raised nearly $2 million on his way to a 49-point victory over Republican challenger Chris Fields. Ellison was the most generous Minnesota Democrat, transferring more than $384,000 from his account to other candidates and campaign committees over the course of the election. (Fields had hit him for such donations periodically throughout the campaign).
Michele Bachmann has $2.1 million on hand, so she already has a major fundraising advantage over any potential challengers in 2014. DFL challenger Jim Graves finished with $471,000 in the bank (and $290,000 in debt, mostly due to loans Graves himself gave to his campaign).
Thanks to Bachmann’s fundraising prowess, the 6th District race was the most expensive in Minnesota (in terms of candidate spending), and among the most expensive in this country this cycle (note that OpenSecrets counts Bachmann’s presidential spending as well, skewing their numbers a bit). In 2010, she ran the most expensive House campaign ever, raising $13.5 million. She raised nearly $1.5 million more than that in 2012.
Collin Peterson has $41,000 on hand going into 2014, a paltry amount for a House incumbent, but Republicans have struggled to find credible challengers to take him on. Peterson defeated Republican Lee Byberg by 25.5 points, his second double-digit victory over Byberg in as many cycles.
Rick Nolan, given his recently incurred debt, finished the 2012 election cycle in the red: he has $67,600 on hand, and is $75,700 in debt. Defeated Rep. Chip Cravaack raised $2.4 million total and spent $1.6 million of it over the last two months, but he ended the race with $34,000 in the bank. He can use that money to finance future campaigns, donate it to charity, transfer it to other candidates or party committees, or refund it to his donors.
Combined, Nolan and Cravaack spent $3.5 million in the 8th District — far less than the $9.3 million outside groups spent there. The 8th garnered the third-most outside spending of any House district in the country this year.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dhenry