Campaign Finance Records Show Two Senators Amassing Money

Two state senators from east-central Illinois have built up formidable campaign warchests, though it's not clear what kind of competition they'll face next year.

Democrat Mike Frerichs' campaign fund brought in more than 30 thousand dollars in the first six months of this year, according to required reports filed with the state board of elections. Most of that funding came from political action committees. Republican Dale Righter raised about the same amount from PACs in that time period, along with another 40 thousand from individuals and corporations. Righter also transferred nearly 270 thousand dollars from a checking account, giving his campaign fund a total of nearly 300 thousand dollars, after a 30 thousand dollar contribution to the state GOP senate campaign committee. Frerich's' warchest stands at about 123 thousand. Both are up for re-election in 2010.

Incumbent state representatives have raised much less money - 103rd district Democrat Naomi Jakobsson reports having raised 13-hundred dollars in the first half of the year from two PACs, while Republican Bill Black in the 104th district raised two thousand. Republican Chapin Rose in the 110th District brought in only about 250 dollars.