The 42 House Democrats to whom party leaders are steering extra financial and political assistance banked an average of nearly half a million dollars 16 months before the 2010 midterm elections.
These lawmakers -- primarily junior members from politically competitive districts -- are known as "Frontline Democrats". They ramped up their fundraising operations in this year's second quarter to prepare for vigorous Republican opposition in the 2010 midterm elections.
According to updated campaign finance reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the 42 Frontline Democrats had an average of $481,000 in campaign cash-on-hand as July began. Please consult this chart for a detailed analysis that is based on FEC data.
The most cash-rich Frontline Democrat is Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who has $1.2 million in her campaign account.
As the chart shows, 16 other Frontline Democrats have more than $500,000 in their campaign accounts, led by John Adler of New Jersey ($869,000), Gary Peters of Michigan ($847,000), Zack Space of Ohio ($819,000) and Jim Himes of Connecticut ($760,000).
Giffords and Space are serving their second terms, while Adler, Peters and Himes are serving their first terms. All five of them came to the House after defeating or succeeding Republicans.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Frontline Democrats with the lowest cash-on-hand totals are Alan Grayson of Florida ($193,000), Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire ($211,000) and Larry Kissell of North Carolina ($214,000).
The average Frontline Democrat raised $555,000 in the first half of 2009, led by Adler's $983,000. (For this calculation, I'm excluding Scott Murphy of New York, who raised most of his $2.5 million in receipts ahead of a March 31 special election that he won narrowly).
About three-fourths of the Frontline Democrats raised a majority of their funds in the first half of 2009 from political action committees (PACs), including the campaign committees of House Democratic leaders and other veteran party members who represent politically safe districts.
The chart shows that Michael Arcuri of New York raised 77 percent of his 2009 receipts from PACs, the highest percentage among Frontline Democrats.
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