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Campaign cash streaming into suburban races

Crain's - July 14, 2006
A growing stream of campaign cash is headed into Chicago suburban races for Congress, with the $1-million mark having been passed in at least three districts to the north and west of the city.

Figures for the quarter ending June 30 from the Federal Elections Commission suggest that competitive - to highly-competitive races have emerged that collectively could help determine whether the GOP retains its current narrow margin in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the west suburban 6th District, Republican Peter Roskam and Democrat Tammy Duckworth now have a combined $2.2 million in their warchests, according to the campaigns.

Mr. Roskam, currently a state senator, has the bigger bankroll with a reported $1.3 million, compared to $900,000 for Ms. Duckworth, a recently discharged military veteran. But she raised more in the quarter, $830,000, compared to about $420,000 for Mr. Roskam.

Mr. Roskam has charged that most of Ms. Duckworth's funding has come from out-of-state liberals. Ms. Duckworth said she now has 240 donors who live in the district, but did not disclose how much they collectively gave.

Whoever ever wins will succeed retiring Rep. Henry Hyde, a Republican.

Northwest of the city, Rep. Melissa Bean, D-10th, ended the quarter with a whopping $2.17 million warchest, compared to $471,000 for the GOP nominee, businessman David McSweeney. Mr. McSweeney did narrowly out-raise her in the recent three-month period, $604,000 to $548,000. Most of Mr. McSweeney's funds earlier in the year had come from himself, but he said he has made no additional donations to himself since winning the March Republican primary. Ms. Bean, who voted to lower trade barriers with Central America, received substantial donations from big-business groups.

In the north suburban 10th District, Democrat Dan Seals reported raising $391,000 in the quarter, with $508,000 in cash on hand as of June 30. Incumbent Mark Kirk's campaign declined to disclose details of his fund-raising in advance of Saturday's FEC filing deadline, saying only that his campaign took in a "record" amount.

Mr. Kirk's campaign had $1.4 million in the bank at the beginning of the quarter.

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