In the first three months of this year, Hatch paid an extra $24,650 to other fund-raising consultants. He is also paying $757 a month in rent to keep open a campaign office in Washington, D.C., where a full-time fund-raiser works for him seeking donations from around the nation.

Flexible account

Why is Hatch raising money again so soon — six years away from a re-election — when, at age 73, he hasn't said if he will run again?

"The senator wants not only to support other (U.S.) senators in their re-elections next year, he wants to support both the local and national Republican parties, as well," said Hansen, a longtime GOP activist who served for a time as former GOP Gov. Norm Bangerter's deputy lieutenant governor.

Hatch indeed is doing that, according to disclosure forms for both his main campaign account (in which he has $2.3 million cash) and in a "leadership" political action committee, ORRINPAC, which is designed specifically to give money to others (in which he has $104,000 in cash).

Those accounts have given $81,400 so far this year to other politicians and local arms of the GOP. That includes donating to eight incumbent U.S. senators and presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Hansen notes, "He also wants to support good causes, like local (nonprofit) organizations."

Hatch donations along that line included $250 to the Utah Humanities Council, $500 to the Utah Division of Veterans Affairs and $160 to the NAACP. He also gave $1,000 to the widow of a soldier killed in Iraq. Hatch "knew she needed some help, and he wanted to help," said Hansen.

Hatch's $2.4 million in cash provides flexibility in a number of ways, said Hansen.

"It has a chilling effect on potential opponents. They're saying: 'He's already got a mountain and I'm starting down on the plain,"' Hansen said. "If you can have it there, why not have it there?"

Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21 and a longtime critic of the present fund-raising system, said while it is common for politicians to use special-interest money to build up big war chests to deter opponents, "It makes it much harder for opponents to run against them," he said.

"We would be much better off with a system that is not so dependent on private contributions, which would provide a fairer way for challengers to run against incumbents," he said.

Wertheimer, one of the original founders of Common Cause, said he was surprised at some of the spending by Hatch, because it edged toward private benefit. That included using his campaign accounts to pay $1,500 for Christmas ornaments in his Senate office, $5,199 to design and print Christmas cards and about $83 a month for cable TV and Internet service at Hatch's home in Virginia.

"That's a surprising use of campaign money. It is supposed to be for political purposes," Wertheimer said.