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It's a concession he hadn't made before, but it could have been intended in part to fire up the party's grass-roots backers and deep-pocketed donors. At first glance, it seems Democrats will have the cash to make it a fight. Democratic challengers brought in more than Republican incumbents in competitive districts in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Virginia during the first quarter of the year. Democrats also took in more than Republicans in eight seats -- four they hold, four held by the GOP
-- that are open because of retirements. That includes races in Arizona, California, Florida, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Washington. In some of those districts, Democrats have already turned the first-quarter fundraising into an overall advantage. In Florida's 10th District, former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings raised $331,598 compared to $148,033 for her opponent, Rep. Daniel Webster. She had $482,251 cash on hand at the end of March compared to $390,621 for Webster. In New Hampshire's 2nd District, Democratic challenger Ann McClane Kuster outraised Rep. Charlie Bass by about $83,000 and had $1,031,568 cash on hand compared to Bass' $790,416. Elsewhere, Democrats have work to do to level the GOP's cash advantage. In Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, for example, Democrats have high hopes for challenger Tarryl Clark, a former state lawmaker running against Rep. Chip Cravaack. Clark raised about $75,000 more in the quarter. But Cravaack still had more than $628,000 on hand compared to about $418,000 for Clark. The gap is even more pronounced in other races: In New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District, Democrat Shelley Adler took in $310,927 compared to $295,824 for GOP Rep. Jon Runyan. But Runyan had $735,220 cash on hand compared to $290,674 for Adler. Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former House staffer, said fundraising usually is a good indicator of which races are competitive. On that score, he said, Democrats are doing well because more races are becoming competitive. "It's a clear indicator that a candidate should be taken seriously. It doesn't necessarily mean that the incumbent will be outspent come November, but it does indicate there's a real race under way," he said.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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