The guys at Swing State Project may be lefties who use the word “teabagger” more frequently than commas, but they still are campaign-news junkies who are good at picking part FEC reports.
So which House candidates have the most cash on hand? Rep. Frank Pallone, Democrat of New Jersey, has $3.9 million, but he wants to run for statewide office someday.
Rep. Ron Klein, endangered Democrat of Florida, has $2.65 million.
Republican Joe Wilson (“You lie!”) of South Carolina has $2.12 million.
A lot of endangered Democrats are sitting on campaign funds of more than $1 million.
Which incumbents have the least cash on hand?
Mark Souder, Republican of Indiana, has only $156,000. Allan Mollohan, Democrat of West Virginia, has only $191,000. Gene Taylor, Democrat of Mississippi, has $223,000; Jean Schmidt, Republican of Ohio, has $225,000. (The Democrat running against her, Surya Yalamanchili, has only $44,000 on hand right now.)
Other surprisingly low incumbents: Republican Bob Inglis of South Carolina, with $247,000; Democrat Chellie Pingree of Maine, with $258,000; Republican Don Young of Alaska, with $273,000; Democrat Larry Kissell of North Carolina, with $298,000.
Kissell was on my list of 99; Pingree was not. It is worth noting that none of these candidates represent particularly expensive districts for campaigns.
GOP challengers who are rolling in dough: Ohio’s Tom Ganley of Ohio (largely self-funded) with $2.1 million, up against Betty Sutton (with a little more than $300,000). Randy Altschuler, competing in New York’s 1st district, has $1.5 million on hand. Allen West has $1.1 million – unfortunately, he’s taking on Ron Klein and the $2.65 million.