"I was a baseball coach once on a team that was undefeated in the regular season," Swallow said. "The playoffs were single elimination. In the first game, I pulled our starting pitcher with a 3-1 lead to save him for the next game. But guess what? My other pitcher had an off night, and we were eliminated. I learned my lesson.

"I understand that we have to win to move on, and I will spend what it takes," he said.

Likewise, Bridgewater said, "I'm willing to spend the lion's share of what's left as we go down to the wire on such things as direct-mail advertising and get-out-the-vote activities."

Both say GOP money will likely flow well to the winner after the election — but both would still be far behind Matheson's head start.

Their money is also coming from very different sources — Bridgewater mostly from his own pocket, while Swallow is gaining much from the pro-business Club for Growth, which also spent huge money in outside advertising for him two years ago.

Bridgewater gave or loaned $254,000 to his campaign — two-thirds of his total raised. That is also a significant amount for someone who figures his total net worth is now between $750,000 and $1 million.

While Swallow's forms do not clearly show exactly how much Club for Growth members donated to him, it appears to be more than $170,000 — although Swallow says he thinks it is only $140,000. So club members may have provided about a quarter of his money.

In the 3rd District, Cannon has raised $375,632 — with a hefty $123,325 of it coming since he was forced into the primary. By comparison, Throckmorton has raised $45,114 — and $29,446 has come since the convention.

Cannon has spent $324,560 total — including $102,631 since April 19. Throckmorton has spent $37,007, including $24,346 since April 19.

Cannon still was technically in the red at the end of the period, while Throckmorton was in the black. Cannon had $47,485 in cash in the bank but listed unpaid bills of $51,415. Throckmorton had $7,107 in the bank and $1,720 in unpaid bills.

Immigration has become a major issue in that race because Cannon has pushed legislation to allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship. Meghan Riding, spokeswoman for Cannon, said outside groups opposing that have spent an estimated $80,000 in radio ads against him in recent months.

The U.S. Immigration Reform political action committee also gave $5,000 during the period to Throckmorton, a ninth of the total money he has raised. Interestingly, apparently to rally Hispanics to his cause, forms showed Cannon spent $1,000 in advertising on the Spanish language Radio Unica.

The winner between Cannon and Throckmorton will face Democrat Beau Babka. Babka has said he has not yet raised or spent the minimum amount needed to require him to file financial disclosure forms.

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E-mail: leed@desnews.com