WASHINGTON -- Missourians in Congress are tapping a dependable source of campaign money -- the political funds of business and labor and colleagues in Washington.
Incumbents in contested races raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from PACs (political action committees) in a recent three-month period, giving them cash advantages with mid-term elections drawing near.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, enjoyed robust second quarter receipts of $531,000, including $221,000 from political committees, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Among her contributions were $5,000 each from leadership PACs controlled by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio.
Emerson ended the quarter with $905,000 on hand, more than keeping pace with the aggressive fundraising of Tommy Sowers, a Rolla Democrat challenging for her seat.
Sowers took in $334,000, giving him a cash fund of more than $600,000 to begin the campaign's stretch run.
Sowers, an Army special forces veteran and first time candidate, said that the fund enables him to spend time campaiging rather than soliciting money over the phone.
"We're going to be on TV and radio. We'll have direct mail and be online," he said. "And this is a district where newspapers really matter."
Sowers contrasted his fundraising with Emerson's.
"It appears that a lot of industries and a lot of groups really have her in their back pockets, and they're getting what they pay for," he said.
A spokesman for Emerson dismissed Sowers' comment, asserting that said that many of her PAC contributions are connected to her work in the district.
"Obviously, a lot of them, like the corn growers and cotton producers, have a deeply vested interested in what's happening in southern Missouri every day," he said.
In the closely watched St. Louis-area race, Rep. Russ Carnahan, the Democratic incumbent, reported a $350,000 fundraising quarter, $139,000 of that from PACs.
Carnahan's $5,000 contributors included the American Hospital Association and the Electrical Workers and Steel Workers labor unions. A leadership PAC controlled by Rep. Charles Melancon, D-La., contributed $4,800.
Among $4,000 contributors to Carnahan were the Monsanto Co. citizenship fund and the leadership PAC of Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ken.
Meanwhile, Ed Martin, a Republican challenger, took in $234,000, giving him a quarter-ending balance of $571,000 -- less than $100,000 behind Carnahan's fund.
Martin said that fundraising assistance from former Attorney General John Ashcroft was helpful in recent months. Among Martin's $2,400 contributors were Ashcroft's wife, Janet, and August Busch III. Martin said this afternoon he was pleased with his totals.
"The beauty of this race that I never expected and that I'm excited about is that we're close enough in money so that Congressman Carnahan has the same concerns we have. We're in the same position in terms of being able to fire salvos and respond," he said.
In Missouri's hard-fought 4th District race, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Lexington, raised nearly have of his $388,000 proceeds from PACs. He had an enviable political treasury of $1.44 million heading into the heat of summer.
Two of his would-be Republican challengers, Vicky Hartzler ($85,000) and state Sen. Bill Stouffer ($74,000) kept pace with one another with the primary nearing.
