National businesses and banks have been feeding Norm Coleman major sums of cash this last quarter, despite the fact that corporations and, especially the financial sector, are withering in a crippling economy and asking taxpayers for bailouts. According to a story in L.A. Times last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $30 million on lobbying in the third quarter of this year, more than twice as much as it spent for the same purpose in the previous quarter. And a chunk of that change is going to Minnesota senator Norm Coleman.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Coleman ranks second, right behind John McCain, in contributions received from business associations this election cycle. Why so much money for an incumbent candidate like Coleman? The chamber is concentrating its efforts on  particularly tight Senate races in Minnesota and Mississippi, L.A. Times notes, because a Democratic win might lead to, among other things, legislation that makes it easier for unions to organize workers.

But an even bigger concern for the chamber’s numerous members is maintaining the lax oversight of the banking and financial industries. As those sectors are taking a $700 billion bailout package, they’re forking over millions to candidates to fight legislation that would result in more oversight or, more accurately, to ensure the lax oversight that resulted in the mortgage crisis continues. This month the chamber swarmed capitol hill with lobbyists calling for a swift passage of the bailout package while at the same time fighting against amendments that would make it easier to file lawsuits against banks receiving federal aid.

Norm Coleman, who favored the bailout package, is no stranger to the finance, real estate, and insurance sectors. Coleman has received more than $2.5 million from those influential industries this election cycle. Since May of this year alone, Coleman has received more than $300,000 from the beleagured mortgage industry.