Republican Sharron Angle clobbered Sen. Harry Reid in fundraising between July and September but most of the cash is gone — she's spending an average of nearly $1 million a week in her bid to defeat the Democratic leader.
Earlier this week Angle's campaign announced she raised a staggering $14.4 million over the three-month period, a sign of Republican confidence in her chances of defeating the four-term senator in the dead-heat race.
But the campaign didn't disclose until Friday that most of the money had been spent. Angle doled out $12 million in that period, or an average of $933,000 weekly. Her campaign said about $4 million was devoted to fundraising fees and expenses, carving about a third of the total out of the three-month haul.
Documents released Friday show Angle and Reid entered the campaign's stretch run with about the same amount of money — about $4 million each at the end of September.
Reid spokesman Kelly Steele said in a statement the campaign "is confident we have the necessary resources to turn out our voters."
Over three months, Reid's campaign spent far more than it took in.
The endangered Democrat's committee raised about $2 million over the period, and he transferred an additional $850,000 into the account, most of it from a separate fundraising arm organized with the Nevada Democratic Party.
But he spent $7.7 million over the period, or an average of about $600,000 a week.
It's the second consecutive quarter that Angle has pulled in more money than Reid, an encouraging sign for the challenger. Her fundraising has been driven by Reid's status — he's the GOP's No. 1 target in November.
Earlier this year Angle was $39,000 in debt. But her donations began to climb sharply after the tea party favorite's come-from-behind win in the June primary.
Overall, Reid has raised $22 million for the campaign. Angle has raised nearly $18 million.
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