Kirk, Seals in big money race to 111th Congress

GOP Congressman Mark Kirk and Democratic challenger Dan Seals have already raised nearly $6 million since their first contest two years ago.

Their spending tally by the November general election is expected to be one of the biggest for any congressional seat nationwide.

Kirk is one of the more moderate House Republicans, but often criticized by Democrats as too conservative for the northwest suburban Chicago district.

He collected about $900,000 in the second quarter, compared with about $645,000 for Seals.

As of July 1st, Kirk had $2.85 million while Seals was at $1.76 million.

For the election cycle that began in January 2007, Seals' gathered nearly $2 million to the 4th term incumbent's $3.87 million.