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By Alex Roarty

News, notes and observations after all the numbers from the second fundraising period were revealed Thursday. To see all of the fundraising in Pennsylvania’s competitive congressional races with links to each report, click here for the congressional fundraising cheat sheet.

– The biggest story appears to be the anemic fundraising of three top congressional Republican recruits: Mike Kelly, Tom Marino and Dave Argall. Marino, a former U.S. attorney who faces Congressman Chris Carney in the 10th, has only a paltry $11,000 on hand after spending nearly all the $230,000 he’s raised so far winning a tough three-way primary. Argall, the Schuylkill County state senator taking on incumbent Tim Holden in the 17th, has only $30,000 on hand after he too was drained by a tough four-way primary.

Kelly, who faces Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper in the 3rd, is in a better position, but only because of his own piggy bank. The Butler County business owner had $100,000 on hand to start July, but only after he’s made $415,000 in total personal contributions to his campaign. He, like Marino, does at least benefit from campaigning in a cheap media market.

To put that in perspective, the three candidate’s combined cash-on-hand is $141,000. Minus Kelly’s personal contributions, they’ve raised a combined $570,000. By comparison, Carney has raised $1.1 million and has $800,000 on hand, Holden has raised $945,000 and has $885,000 on hand, and Dahlkemper has raised $1.6 million and has $1 million on hand.

Each of the races is far from over, particularly in a political climate as likely favorable for Republicans as this one. But the hopes of victory each GOP candidate, each of whom were the top recruit in their respective district, appear to fading.

“It’s no surprise that these lackluster Republican candidates are struggling,” said DCCC spokesman Shripal Shah.  “Pennsylvanians see through these flawed, out-of-touch candidates; they’re not supporting them now, and they won’t support them in November.”

Argall and Marino in particular might now depend on a huge GOP wave rolling across the country to lift them to victory.

“I think the most important parts of those campaigns are the records of the Democrats in congress,” said NRCC spokesman Tory Mazzola. “And you can’t under how much of a liability having a voting record so close to Nancy Pelosi will be in November.”

– Said one GOP strategist of the state’s congressional races after this fundraising report, “In Pennsylvania, it is Critz, Dahlkemper, Kanjorski, Murphy and the open seat in 7th that are the seats in play.”

Of those listed, the strategist said Murphy’s seat was likely the safest of that bunch.

– The relatively poor fundraising of Kelly, Argall and Marino could be a boon to other in-state GOP candidates, however, who compete for funding and NRCC support with their Republican bretheren. Mike Fitzpatrick, who faces Patrick Murphy in the 8th, Lou Barletta, who faces Paul Kanjorski in the 11th, and Pat Meehan, vying for the open seat in the 7th, each now look better in comparison.

– The fundraising battle between Republican incumbent Charlie Dent and Democratic challenger John Callahan in the 15th Congressional District might is the state’s most competitive, and closest. Nearly all of the two candidates’ fundraising reports have been identical, and the second quarter was no different. Dent raised $410,000 while Callahan received $350,000, and both men have roughly $1 million on hand. It’s a particularly impressive total for a challenger, much less a Democratic one running in year whose political climate favors Republicans.

– Keep an eye on Keith Rothfus in the 4th District. His fundraising has been (far?) better than expected since knocking off Mary Beth Buchanan, who top GOP officials must now be ecstatic lost despite her early front-runner status. He still faces a huge cash disadvantage to Jason Altmire, but he might not need much cash to win a district that favored John McCain by 55 percent.

– The fundraising numbers look great, or depressing, for Lou Barletta depending on which perspective you take. Outraising incumbent Paul Kanjorski in the second quarter is unquestionably a good sign, but he still faces a five-t0-one cash-on-hand disadvantage ($1 million to $200,000). Kanjorski won in 2008 thanks in part to his huge financial advantage, it’s possible the same scenario could repeat itself in 2010.

– Manan Trivedi made his battle against GOP incumbent Jim Gerlach more interesting after reporting $430,000 second-quarter haul, his best ever and only $60,000 less than his Republican foe. Fundraising, or lack thereof, had dogged the former Naval physician’s campaign, but defeating primary opponent Doug Pike in May seems to have helped unite the party’s money behind him.

Gerlach is right to feel confident that he won’t lose, after eight years of Democrats trying, in a year that favors Republicans. But his previous campaigns also weren’t preceded by a half-year gubernatorial effort that left him broke and at financial parity with a viable challenger.

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