Republicans post anemic fundraising numbers in the First

Republican candidates in Minnesota’s First Congressional District are lagging far behind their intended opponent, Rep. Tim Walz, in the money race. Allen Quist, Randy Demmer and Jim Hagedorn together raised $61,453. Rep. Tim Walz, the DFL incumbent, took in $237,941.

Walz is on the list of Democrats the National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting in 2010.

Quist led the Republican pack with $32,853, Demmer took in $19,200 and Hagedorn raised $5,150.

In terms of cash on hand: Quist had $30,781.37, Demmer had $10,176.52 and Hagedorn $5,150.

By comparison, Walz had $421,203.05 cash on hand.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin compared these numbers to the 2008 cycle:

Just out of curiosity, I looked at the fundraising totals for Republican candidate Brian Davis, who unsuccessfully challenged Walz for the seat in 2008. At this point in the campaign, Davis had nearly $80,000 in cash on hand. But it is worth noting that when Walz won the seat in 2006, he had $40,309 on hand at this point in the campaign.