By timing his personal donations — some before, some after the primary — and not triggering the millionaire's exemption until the last possible moment, he keeps Matheson and other 2nd District candidates from being able to solicit donations above the regular $2,100 level.

Matheson, who has raised around $1.5 million (his last FEC reports show), said Monday that if Christensen had given his campaign $600,000, $450,000 since the primary, it appears that he had passed the $350,000 level without reporting it, as required.

But Hill emphasized that Christensen has not hit $350,000 in giving since the June primary election and thus has not had to file the extra FEC reports nor officially notify other 2nd District candidates that they can start raising more cash than the $2,100 limit.

Matheson said he has only a handful of individual contributors who have hit the $2,100 donation ceiling.

"I may go back and ask some for more (money) from them," Matheson said. "But most of my individual contributors haven't given that much," and so they could still give more.

However, there are several third-party candidates in the race. And should they have wealthy family or friends who wanted to give more than the regular $2,100, it could be a real financial shot to their campaigns if those individuals could now give $6,300 in total.

The millionaire's exemption was put in the McCain-Feingold reform law in an attempt to level the financial playing field a bit, said Jowers.

Included in that exemption is what's called "coordinated campaigns" between the candidate and any of his political party entities.

In Utah's 2nd District race this year, it would mean that Matheson could conduct a coordinated campaign with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — a real boost if he needed it.

But the DCCC — as well as its Republican Party counterpart — have not spent any money in the district so far.

That's because Matheson holds nearly a 40-point lead in the polls over Christensen, surveys by the News and KSL-TV show.

"I haven't run any coordinated campaigns so far," said Matheson. And he doubts there will be the DCCC money coming to run any in the short time before Election Day.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com