Goes to 11

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The Semiannual disclosure reports are coming in for last fall's hot statewide and legislative races and it looks like there were 11 races over the $1M mark, not 10 like we earlier thought. Not everybody's filed, but by and large, our estimates were low. We found 10 races that we expected would show spending of more than $1M: the 22nd, 34th, 42nd, 49th, and 52nd Senate races, and the 71st, 91st, 92nd, 101st, and 107th House. It now looks like we missed the 33rd Senate race. Both losing incumbent Cheryl Oxley and winning challenger Dan Kotowski have filed, showing $1,152,662 in combined spending.

If you were watching fundraising totals last fall, there was one other race you might have thought could go over $1M: the race for Jay Hoffman's House seat. Combined, the two candidates showed over $1M in fundraising. But we didn't count it bas a million dollar race because Rep. Hoffman had all the money. The D2s now show that he didn't spend much. Challenger Carol Kugler spent $34K. Hoffman spent $541K, but that includes $61K in transfers to other candidates and $250K buying Certificates of Deposit at the DuQuoin State Bank, after the election. Over all, Hoffman reports raising more than he spent last fall. He ended the year with $970K available, including the CDs.

All reports should be filed by midnight tonight. We'll start analyzing the numbers as soon as they're all in.