WASHINGTON -- With about a year to go until the 2012 general election, three upstate congressmen, including two in the Capital Region, are picking up the fundraising pace.
Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, raised about $200,000 between June 30 and Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission data. That haul brings Owens' total contributions this election cycle to $554, 791. He has spent $176,571.
Owens, who first won his seat in a 2009 special election, is likely to face Republican Matt Doheny in a rematch of the tightly contested 2010 election. In that contest, a conservative third-party candidate -- Doug Hoffman -- also challenged for the seat.
Doheny, whose candidacy officially began less than a month ago, has raised only about $35,000. The wealthy Watertown businessman is likely to rely heavily on his own wallet. About $2.2 million of Doheny's total $3.4 million 2010 campaign was self-financed, FEC documents show.
Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, raised just under $155,000 during the most recent filing period, bringing his total cash on hand to $565,427. Gibson isn't committing his election funds just yet, having spent only about $53,000. It isn't clear how well-financed Gibson's opposition is, because liberal Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, who has announced his intention to run for Gibson's seat, has not filed any finance reports.
Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, had a healthy $100,000 three-month total despite facing no major opposition. Tonko has now raised $333,453 and spent almost $162,000.
Fundraising success has not always added up to an Election Day win in upstate. Gibson defeated Democrat Scott Murphy of Glens Falls in 2010 despite raising $1.7 million against Murphy's $5.3 million.
Fractures in the conservative voting bloc allowed Owens to prevail the same year, although his total funds of $2.8 million came up about $600,000 short of Doheny's mostly self-financed campaign.
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