An aggressive fundraising push aided by heavy hitters in Alaska business has Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Samuels with more campaign cash in the bank than his incumbent primary rival, Gov. Sean Parnell. Republican Bill Walker, an Anchorage attorney, isn't far behind, setting up a high-dollar fight among the three for the GOP nomination.
Ethan Berkowitz raised the most money among the candidates running for the Democratic nomination for governor. Berkowitz brought in more than $128,000, including $10,295 from himself, and reported that he had almost $109,000 remaining in the bank as of Jan. 31. Berkowitz's supporters included labor unions and several well-known Alaska attorneys.
Tuesday was the state's deadline for candidates to report how much they've raised and spent through Jan. 31, in advance of the August primary election.
Parnell brought in the most campaign cash of any of the candidates -- more than $215,000 -- while Samuels raised $178,584. But Parnell has had about twice as long to collect contributions as Samuels, who didn't get in the race until Dec. 8. Parnell also spent more on his campaign, and his $125,175 remaining in the bank is a few thousand less than the Samuels campaign is expected to report in its accounts.
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