Seals, Dold running close in fundraising for 10th District seat

In their race for the 10th District seat, congressional hopefuls Dan Seals and Robert Dold put up remarkably similar fundraising numbers in the second quarter of 2010, each collecting about $555,000 during the period.

The money came from similar sources, too, the candidates' latest Federal Election Commission disclosure reports show. Dozens of local doctors, lawyers, business executives and other professionals cut checks to Seals, a Wilmette Democrat, and Dold, a Kenilworth Republican.

The candidates received thousands of dollars from various political action committees, too, the records show, although Seals received much more money from such groups than Dold.

A few notable Chicago-area residents contributed to the two campaigns. Filmmaker, actor and Glencoe resident Harold Ramis sent Seals a check for $250, while James Tyree, CEO of Mesirow Financial and chairman of the Sun-Times Media Group, gave Seals $1,000. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin gave $5,000 to Seals, too.

"Dan is proud to have the support of a diverse group of individuals who recognize his commitment to fiscal responsibility and share his values and vision," said campaign spokeswoman Aviva Gibbs.

No fundraising slouch, Dold got $4,800 from philanthropists Margot and Thomas Pritzker and $1,000 from former Gov. James Thompson.

Dold also received $1,000 from Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park, who now represents the 10th District but is running for U.S. Senate against Democrat Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. Additionally, Kirk's predecessor in the House, John Porter, gave Dold $500, reports show.

"The support from Kirk and from Porter shows they believe Bob will continue the tradition of independent leadership in the district," Dold campaign spokesman Kelly Klopp said.

The 10th District includes parts of Cook and Lake counties and stretches west from the Lake Michigan shoreline. It's a swing district that has supported Democratic presidential candidates in recent years but sent Republican Kirk to congress five times.

Kirk's decision to run for the Senate left the seat open, and the race has turned into one of the most high-profile congressional contests in the state. Seals ran against Kirk in 2006 and 2008 and lost both times; this is Dold's first bid for public office.

The GOP has held the seat for nearly 30 years, and both candidates are expected to have significant financial aid from ground-level supporters and their respective political parties.

"Both sides are going to be eyeballing this (race)," said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "Seals has run in the district before, so he obviously has some advantages in terms of name recognition. But because he's lost twice, there's probably some baggage from that."

Dold's campaign netted about $554,943 in the second quarter of 2010, which ran from April 1 to June 30. That brings his campaign total to $1.5 million.

After expenses totaling $176,843, Dold ended the quarter with about $725,468 in the bank.

Dold is "extremely pleased" with his campaign's fundraising so far, Klopp said.

"As a first-time candidate, he has to introduce himself to everyone first and then people have to decide if they want to invest in him," Klopp said. "The numbers clearly show many (people) in the 10th District want to invest in Bob, invest in his candidacy and invest in his message."

Seals netted about $555,331 during the same period. His campaign has received about $1.7 million in donations overall.

Seals outspent Dold in the second quarter, reporting $221,859 in expenses. The Seals campaign ended the period with about $792,021 saved.

Team Seals also reported roughly $91,485 in unpaid debts for catering, printing, research and other services. The Dold team reported no outstanding debts as of June 30.

Gibbs shrugged off the Democrat's debts.

"It's not uncommon to have outstanding invoices," she said. "Dan Seals believes in full transparency and not sweeping bills under the rug."

Both candidates' campaigns have trumpeted the many, many checks they received from individual donors, but both also accepted plenty of money from political action committees.

Dold received $62,000 in itemized donations from more than 30 political committees, reports showed. Donors included groups representing Exxon Mobil Corp., John Deere, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Tank Truck Carriers and Walgreen Co., his FEC report showed.

Seals received about $117,000 in donations from more than 40 political action committees, according to his FEC report. Supporters included the American Federation of Teachers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and Planned Parenthood.

Interestingly, records show both candidates got $500 donations from the committee representing the Lake Forest pharmaceutical company Hospira.

Whether Seals and Dold continue to rake in significant amounts of campaign cash likely will depend on political polling done between now and Election Day on Nov. 2, Redfield said.

National Democratic fundraisers could shift focus on other House races in Illinois - say, defending first-term representatives Bill Foster of Batavia or Debbie Halvorson of Crete against their respective GOP challengers - if Seals falls behind in the polls, Redfield said.

"The Democrats have a lot of first-term seats at risk," Redfield said.