6th District hopefuls raise $2 million total
04/18/2006
Kline leads Rowley in 2nd District funds
BY PATRICK SWEENEY
Pioneer Press
Six major candidates running for Congress from Minnesota’s 6th District have raised more than $2 million, according to new campaign finance filings.
Of that total, the candidates already have spent more than $900,000.
The big spending contest is for the open congressional seat now held by Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy. He is leaving the House of Representatives to run for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Mark Dayton.
The 6th District runs from Afton through the Twin Cities’ northern suburbs and past St. Cloud.
Three of four Republican House candidates — state Sen. Michele Bachmann of Stillwater and state Reps. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud and Phil Krinkie of Lino Lakes — were relatively closely bunched in terms of how much they have raised and spent, as well as how much cash they had on hand March 31. Jay Esmay, a Republican business executive from St. Cloud, trailed far behind those candidates in all three categories.
Knoblach’s totals include $200,000 he loaned his campaign; Krinkie’s totals include a $50,000 loan.
On the Democratic-Farmer-Labor side of the 6th District campaign, child-safety advocate Patty Wetterling of St. Joseph, who joined the congressional race in early February after abandoning a Senate campaign, raised $219,754 through the end of March. That includes more than $40,000 she transferred from the Senate campaign.
Elwyn Tinklenberg, a former Blaine mayor and former state transportation commissioner, raised $61,471 during the same period.
The Republican Party will make its 6th District endorsement May 6, while Democrats are scheduled to endorse a candidate May 13.
In the 2nd Congressional District in the southern suburbs, two-term incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline of Lakeville raised $191,042 in January through March. His likely Democratic challenger, Coleen Rowley of Apple Valley, raised $98,877. Rowley reported $101,779 cash on hand; Kline had $552,389.