Pryor closes in on $4 million

2007-07-13

Source: The Cabin

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., took in slightly more than $1 million in campaign donations from April through June as he continued to build a substantial war chest for next year's re-election bid.

The first-term senator ended the second quarter with about $2.9 million in the bank, according to a campaign finance report he plans to file over the weekend.

So far, Pryor has raised $3.71 million this year.

"I am very humbled and pleased by the overwhelming support I'm receiving for my 2008 re-election effort," Pryor said in a statement.

The former Arkansas attorney general and son of former Sen. David Pryor defeated Republican incumbent Tim Hutchinson in 2002. The two men combined to raise just over $9 million in that race at the time the most costly campaign in Arkansas history.

Potential 2008 challengers could be scared away by Pryor's impressive fundraising totals, said Art English, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

"You don't have to be a political scientist to figure that out," English said. "Almost $4 million at this stage of the game is an intimidating sum of money. It's a pretty big war chest when you figure you need 4, 5 or 6 million to run a campaign."

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