Cannon's coffers have a rival

He said that he has not decided on a cap for his personal campaign spending but that he started with $250,000 so that "people would know we are serious about beating Jim Matheson."

Matheson's other Republican challenger, former congressman and perennial candidate Merrill Cook, raised $21,069 since the beginning of 2008 and has $10,131.08 cash on hand, according to the filings.

None of the challengers, however, are close — yet — to touching Matheson's war chest. The four-term Democrat raised $218,476 for the first quarter and has just over $1 million cash on hand.

The other 2nd District candidates, Libertarian Matthew Arndt, Constitution Party Dennis Ray Emery, and Republicans Donald Ferguson, Kenneth Gray, Chris Jacobs and Brian Jenkins did not meet that $5,000 minimum of contribution that the FEC requires to file a report, although Gray noted he met the minimum after the March 31 deadline, so he will have to file a July 15 report.

Meanwhile, in the 1st District, Democrat Morgan Bowen, Constitution Party candidate Kirk D. Pearson, and Libertarian Joseph Geddes Buchman, did not raise the $5,000 minimum required to file a report.

Incumbent Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, raised $38,650 in the last quarter of 2007 and had $149,892 as of the Dec. 31, 2007 reporting period. Scott Parker, Bishop's chief of staff, did not have exact figures Tuesday night but said it would be close to what he had as of that last report.

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