Photo: #Congressional candidate and state senator Tarryl Clark, who is challenging Republican Michele Bachman, speaks at the 2010 DFL convention at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in Duluth, MN.

Campaign 2010

Bachmann nearly doubles Clark's fundraising in 2Q

by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — The November election is still four months away, but incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has already raised $4.1 million for her re-election campaign in the 6th Congresstion District.

That exceeds her total for the 2008 election cycle. Bachmann raised $1.7 million alone in the second quarter, her campaign said Wednesday.

Bachmann released fundraising numbers several hours after Democrat Tarryl Clark announced she had raised about $910,000 in the second quarter for her bid to unseat Bachmann.

Clark has now raised more than $2 million, which her campaign said was more than previous congressional challengers at this point in the campaign.

Neither campaign released the amount of money already spent. They have until July 15 to report detailed fundraising numbers to the Federal Elections Commission.

Clark said her campaign has received donations from 24,000 people. Bachmann said second quarter donations to her campaign came from 28,000 people.