The latest national campaign finance reports underscore one of the benefits of incumbency – access to money.

In seven of the eight U.S. House races across the state, the incumbents, regardless of their parties, are far ahead of their challengers in collecting campaign contributions.

In the eighth race, Republican incumbent Rick Renzi is not running for re-election. He’s scheduled to spend the campaign season in court fighting public corruption charges instead.

Consider what’s happening in the 5^th Congressional District race.

First-term Democrat Harry Mitchell has bagged more than twice as much money as any of his Republican opponents. Mitchell had collected nearly $1.4 million and had more than $1.1 million cash on hand on at the end of the first quarter on March 31, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And he doesn’t even a primary opponent to be concerned about.

Former Maricopa County treasurer David Schweikert was tops among the GOP field in the 1st District. He had collected $681,000 and had $514,000 cash on hand.

Former lobbyist Jim Ogsbury was next with $427,000 in receipts and $353,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, former state Rep. Laura Knaperek had raised $100,000 and had $44,000 in reserve.

State Rep. Mark Anderson had raised $55,000 and curiously had $70,000 cash on hand, according to both the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission. Anderson told me Friday that those figures are somewhat in error. Actually, he had raised $93,000 and had $70,000 in reserve at the end of the quarter. The $55,000 figure was just the dough he had raised during the first quarter, he said.

The top three industry sectors pumping up Mitchell’s campaign were lawyers and lobbyists with $139,000 in combined contributions; finance, insurance and real estate with $130,000 in total collections; and labor at $122,500.

The 5^th District takes in Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee Foothills and west Mesa.

Over in the 6^th District, four-term Republican incumbent Jeff Flake is running practically unopposed. He has raised $891,000 and had $975,000 cash on hand, thanks to spill-over from his previous campaign. His top three industry sectors were finance, insurance and real estate at $149,000 combined; miscellaneous businesses at $110,000; and construction interests at $54,000.

His Democratic opponent, author Richard Grayson hasn’t filed campaign finance reports.

The 6th District takes in parts of Mesa and Chandler, plus all of Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Apache Junction.

Meanwhile, in the 3^rd District, seven-term Republican incumbent John Shadegg had collected more than $1.2 million and had $938,000 in reserve.

Democrat challenger and attorney Bob Lord had raised $833,000 and had $632,000 in cash.

And independent e-magazine publisher Annie Loyd was way back with $34,000 in collections and $7,000 in reserve.

Shadegg’s top industry sectors for contributions were finance, insurance and real estate at $136,000 combined; miscellaneous businesses at $121,000; and lawyers and lobbyists at $77,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Interestingly, two of Shadegg’s top three industry sectors also were among Mitchell’s top three. Shadegg’s a Republican; Mitchell’s a Democrat. Go figure.

Shadegg’s 3rd District covers central and northern Phoenix, plus Paradise Valley, Carefree and Cave Creek.

While over in the wide-open 1^st District, which is Renzi’s district, former state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick led the Democratic field with $661,000 in collections and $465,0000 in cash.

Next was new candidate and former U.S. House aide Jiff Riley, with $221,000 in collections and $216,000 in cash.

He was followed by former TV reporter Mary Kim Titla with $169,000 in receipts and $48,000 in cash.

Then came attorney Howard Shanker with $138,000 collected and $34,000 in reserve.

On the GOP side, Arizona Mining Association president and former talk radio host Sydney Hay led with $268,000 in collections and $222,000 in cash.

New GOP challenger and Internet businessman Preston Korn entered the fray with $19,000 raised and $10,000 in reserve.

The 1^st District is the 10^th largest district in the country. The district take in vast areas of northern, central and eastern Arizona, including the far East Valley. It stretches from the Utah state line to Casa Grande. The cost of road-side signs alone will be staggering.

A report in Tuesday’s edition of Roll Call could be sobering for the Republican challengers seeking to oust Democratic U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell’s and Gabrielle Giffords in the fall.

Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress, reported that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a huge financial advantage against the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The committees direct political expertise, and more importantly funding, toward selected races nationwide. At least they do that most years.

Roll Call writer Nathan L. Gonzales reported that through 2007, the DCCC had collections of $35.1 million, while the NRCC had $5.4 million.

Gonzales wrote, “Both committees generally give first priority and focus to incumbents, followed by open seats and then challenger races. With a number of vulnerable incumbents and more than two dozen open seats to defend, GOP challengers shouldn’t expect much more than a pat on the back from their campaign committees.”

Using that formula, Arizona’s Republican incumbents Reps. Jeff Flake and Trent Franks will get first-priority funding, though in reality, they won’t need it because they’ll only face token opposition.

The second-priority funding will go to whichever candidates emerge from the GOP primaries for the open seats currently held by outgoing Republican Reps. John Shadegg and Rick Renzi.

The third-priority funding will go to the Republican challengers for Mitchell’s and Giffords seats, which could be competitive. That is, if there’s any funding left.

Jeff Flake

A reader named Mark asked a reasonable question concerning my story today about the sabotage of an online poll about the potential Jeff Flake-Russel Pearce congressional race. The story was headlined “Results are in; online poll doesn’t add up.”

The story can be accessed here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/97050

Question: “I fail to see how this is even remotely newsworthy. Covering online polls?? If you were to believe some of these so-called online polls, Ron Paul would be a shoo-in for president. Janet Napolitano would have had no chance at getting reelected last year, and Sen. Jon Kyl is in real danger of being recalled. A poll from GOPUSA?? Come on!”

Answer: Mark is correct in that online polls are garbage. That was explained by legitimate pollster Mike O’Neil within today’s story. Heck, the results of the online poll weren’t even included in the story.

But the story really wasn’t about the GOP news site poll. It was about how Pearce and someone apparently aligned with Flake tampered with it.

Pearce admitted to me that he sent an e-mail to supporters telling them how to manipulate the poll to favor him. Then three hours later, he said, he sent another e-mail asking his supporters to ignore the poll. Meanwhile, Flake’s spokesmen Matthew Specht and Mike Haller told me they encouraged Flake’s supporters to vote in the poll, but they denied knowledge of who hacked it to favor Flake.

Integrity and honesty are going to be key themes of a potential Flake-Pearce race. Pearce challenged Flake on those points when he announced that he was forming an exploratory committee as he considers running. Specifically, he said Flake has been less than honest in discussing immigration. Those are strong words for the opening interview of a congressional race.

That’s what makes the story newsworthy. Thanks for asking.

Russell PearceI have a confession. Until recently, I figured the 2008 election cycle was going to be a bland affair in Arizona, just a blip on the political record until 2010.After all, in 2010, Democratic Janet Napolitano will be termed out of the governor