The race for three Sioux City Council seats will be decided two nights from now. The five candidates include the sole incumbent, Jim Rixner, former councilman and mayor Tom Padgett, 2002 and 2004 statehouse (Republican) candidate Keith Radig, developer John Fitch and political newcomer Ian Rappolt, who works at Boys and Girls Home. Rappolt may be a newbie, but he’s a formidable fundraiser, especially in tapping into the political action committees of local labor unions. Again the story of the another campaign finance reporting period is how Rappolt is raking in from union PACs.

Rappolt has raised a total of $7,667, virtually a dead heat with the $7,665 Padgett has amassed. Of that $7,667 for Rappolt, he’s got $3,950 from union PACs. He’s gotten a lot of guff for that from commenters to the Journal’s Web site, but Rappolt said he’s heard not one word of concern from anyone he’s visited with while campaigning.

Here are the key Sioux City Council candidate totals, from two reporting periods with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board:

Funds raised first report: (1) Padgett, $5,800, (2) Rappolt, $4,205, (3) Fitch, $2,200, (4) Radig, $2,055 and (5) Rixner, $1,030.

Funds raised second report: (1) Rixner, $4,690, (2) Rappolt, $3,462, (3) Fitch, $3,150, (4) Padgett, $1,865 and (5) Radig, $1,500.

Funds raised all told: (1) Rappolt, $7,667, (2) Padgett, $7,665, (3) Rixner, $5,720, (4) Fitch, $5,350 and (5) Radig, $3,555.

Funds raised from PACs: (1) Rappolt, $3,950, and (2) Rixner, $1,450.

Had my first conversation with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a political kindred spirit with Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King. She’ll be part of an upcoming political feature, and Waterloo, Iowa, native Bachmann was fine with going off-topic for a few stray questions at the end of our chat.

I relayed the report this week showing U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley had the bountiful amount of $4 million in his 2010 senatorial campaign coffers, but was down for money raised in the third quarter, compared to when he ran for prior re-election six years ago. I was curious about whether federal officeseekers were typically having a tough time in fundraising.

“Members of Congress have to work even harder now in these recessionary times to raise money, than they did in the past. Also, Republicans are in the minority, and that makes it very difficult to raise money. When a member of Congress is in the majority (party), it is far easier to raise money,” she said.

Bachmann, as a committed conservative who riles Democrats, noted she needs to raise a lot of money, since “I’m one of the top targets for elimination by Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi. Because of that, I have to work that much harder on fundraising.”

Bachmann has already announced she’ll seek a third term in 2010, and she’s raised about $800K in this year and has about $600K on hand.

Additionally, I asked Bachmann if she is being prodded to seek the 2012 presidency, given her growing national profile. She said she has no doubts the GOP will produce a good crop of  presidential candidates, and threw out King as a name of interest.

“Steve King is mentioned as a potential nominee. I have a very high opinion of Steve King and his ability, so I would encourage him to consider any position for higher office,” Bachmann said.

As for herself, Bachmann said, “Goodness, I’ve only been in the House for three years, so, no, I’m not considering anything like that.”

I’m looking over campaign committee finance reports this afternoon for the 11 Sioux City Council candidates for a piece that will be published shortly in The Journal. Here are some tidbits to whet your appetite, and at the bottom of  the post I’ll provide links to seven reports available at the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board to peruse at your leisure.

Tom Padgett, the former Sioux City mayor and councilman, leads the field with $5,800. His top donor is Norm Waitt Jr. of Dakota Dunes, a former Gateway official, who donated $2,000, which doubles the next highest donation anyone in the field received.  Padgett’s list of donors giving typically from $100 to $250 is a Who’s Who of city movers.

Yes, as tipped here a few days ago, one candidate is receiving money from political action committees. Ian Rappolt — the youngster in the field (Keith Radig is young too, but not as young as just out-of-college Rappolt) — has received $1,750 from three political action committees affiliated with labor unions. I spoke briefly with Rappolt, who said he’s getting money from Democrats, Republicans and in between, and he’s not apologizing for taking some PAC money. He’s being hammered by some for being beholden to unions.

This is fairly new turf in Sioux City Council race history. Two years ago you had the groundbreaking participation by the PeaceMakers PAC operated by local minister Cary Gordon. Some don’t like the PAC presence, but hey, political action committees have every right to funnel money to candidates of their choosing.  For what it’s worth, the amount Rappolt’s received (to this point) pales to the $11,000 Aaron Rochester received from PeaceMakers in 2007 in his victorious campaign. And the $4,000 councilman Brent Hoffman received from PeaceMakers PAC in 2007 didn’t enable him to jump to victory in the mayoral contest.

Click on the following names  for campaign finance  information on Tom Padgett, Ian Rappolt, Keith Radig, David Wantland, incumbent Jim Rixner and James Gengler and John Fitch.  Good luck with a few of the handwritten names.

There are no reports on the disclosure board Web site for candidates Victor Vara, David Hays, Douglas Van Der Voort and Thomas Venesky.

There’s news galore on the Iowa GOP gubernatorial race this summer, most of it horserace who’s-in, who’s-out on a daily basis. The latest is a poll commissioned by The Iowa Republican Web site, which shows Sioux Cityan Bob Vander Plaats in the lead with 46 percent, which puts him in front of “don’t know” (27 percent), Christopher Rants (14 percent) and Christian Fong and Paul McKinley, with 3 percent each. A good chunk of that lead for Vander Plaats could be chalked up to the fact that he’s been out working his candidacy the longest.

But I’m instead thinking a bit about the Iowa 5th District congressional race, which is a yawner at this point. Incumbent Republican Steve King typically holds his cards on whether he’ll run for re-election until March of the election year, even though it’s been obvious he would run again the last few times. If he’s hopping instead into the governor’s race, he’d need to do that in the latter half of 2009 at the latest. The guess here is that King will run for the U.S. House again.

The second quarter Federal Election Commission fundraising reports are out, and King ranks fourth of the five Iowa congressmen. He’s raised $201K for the quarter and is sitting on $216K in the bank. Pretty typical numbers for King, who’s never raised a ton of money in comparison to the other Iowa congressional districts — but then he’s never needed to, given the paucity of fundraising by his opponents and sitting in a heavily Republican voter district.

Looking on Democratic  side, by this time two years ago, we knew Rob Hubler was a candidate, while Bob Chambers in summer 2007 was mulling a repeat bid for 2008 (he ultimately didn’t). There are no big Dem names out to take on King at this point. There aren’t a lot of Democratic success stories in the 32 counties that comprise the Fifth District congressional district, especially once you throw Sioux City and Council Bluffs out of the mix. If you’re a western Iowa Democrat, do you want two state legislators to give King a run this year? Is it time to put out the full court press for State Sen. Steve Warnstadt of Sioux City or State Rep. Paul Shomshor of Council Bluffs to step up?

If Shomshor were to do that, it would be his second congressional run. Shomshor was the guy King easily waxed to win in 2002 when he became a congressman for the first time. Surely Shomshor would be a more formidable a campaigner after several sessions in the Legislature.

Tomorrow we’re running a recap of the campaign fundraising for Northwest Iowa candidates for the statehouse. House Minority Leader Christopher Rants –  unsurprisingly, given his 16-year status as a bigwig in the Legislature –  blows the doors off all other officeseekers. In fact, his $120,000 in 2008 might be roughly the same amount as the other 20-some candidates combined. Seriously. Rants is one major fundraiser, and in a release earlier this week he noted the Republican leadership holders outraised their Democratic counterparts by 2-to-1.

Overall, for the reporting period through July 19, Rants noted that Republican statehouse candidates had $1,177,107 in cash on hand, compared to $1,164,602, for a narrow lead that Rants termed “a key indicator of campaign strength.”

I also searched on where a few active Iowa political action committees were putting their funds. One of them was the PeaceMakers PAC that factored heavily in the Sioux City Council races last year. PeaceMakers PAC founder Cary Gordon told me previously that he’d be broadening to donations outside the area, and the report filing confirmed that. PeaceMakers gave one campaign donation for the last quarter, $3,000 to Tim Ginter.

Who’s Tim Ginter? He is an East Liverpool, Ohio, man who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate and now is running for the Ohio State Senate in District 30. A member of the Republican National Committee, Ginter is also a pastor, like Gordon.

It didn’t take long for Scott Klebb to respond to the other prime challanger’s move in the race to be the Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska. I got into work yesterday midafternoon and on the wire was a breaking story on Democratic candidate Tony Raimondo (he has real deep pockets) loaning his campaign $450,000. That step triggered the “millionaire’s amendment,” whereby others in the race can increase the amount they can receive in donations from individuals.

In a law that took effect with the 2003-04 election cycle with the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, Kleeb can now bump up what he can raise from individuals from $2,300 to $6,900 each. By 3 p.m. yesterday, he’d sent out an e-mail to supporters, explaining the millionaire’s amendment and asking for a doubling of contributions. In Kleeb’s conception, it’s necessary to go toe-to-toe with television ads, which are airing in the Omaha and Lincoln markets. He’s asking for the money by May 7 to settle commercial buys.

The Nebraska primary takes place in eight days on May 13. We’ll likely see Raimondo and Kleeb in northeast Nebraska before then, and Republicans Mike Johanns and Pat Flynn too, since they’re also in a primary contest.

Jeremy Taylor, the Sioux City Republican who wants to unseat Democrat Wes Whitead in Iowa House District 1, this morning announced he will not accept campaign donations from political action committees or lobbyists. So Taylor, a political newcomer, will be filling out finance disclosure forms that only include donations from individuals. 

He said he’s taking the step to reduce the influence of special interests in the Iowa Legislature. Taylor acknowledges this will put him at a competitive disadvantage with Whitead, who’s received PAC money frequently in winning four terms. “Although my opponent may outspend me 10-to1, I hope to make up for the lack of money with 10 times the door knocking and visiting with voters,” Taylor said.

He pointed to a $1,000 contribution Whitead took in 2006 from a PAC operated by the firm owning Argosy Casino-Sioux City. Taylor said such a contribution impacts lawmakers decisions, like Whitead’s vote for a statewide public smoking ban that exempted casinos as the main exception to the ban.

There’s a breaking news story this afternoon showing that South Dakotans are giving very little in campaign donations to the presidential candidates. Through the quarter reported Jan. 31, in fact, South Dakota ranked 49th in the nation in presidential campaign contributions.

I’m going to breathe deep and handle this one without placing a call to a University of South Dakota political science department or to a party official. Do you think, just maybe, the paltry giving could be tied to the fact that not one presidential candidate has campaigned in South Dakota?

As the story linked here reports, never has so much presidential campaign money been raised so far away from election day. In the first quarter of 2007 alone, the top five cash-churning candidates in the Republican and Democratic parties nearly brought in $100 million. That’s money they’ll burn buying ads and scheduling events in places like Sioux City, Alton and Onawa over the next nine months prior to the Iowa caucuses.

And, the money is taxed, right? Well, no. A caller yesterday wanted to vent about that, saying the fundraised amounts should be subject to federal taxation. I told the man the reality that it is not considered income for the political candidates, that it goes to political action committees, but he didn’t like it.

“They (candidates) use it. They eat and sleep off it, don’t they?” he posed. “They use that money to travel, to eat and sleep. That is for them, for their benefit, so it is income.”

Here’s the simple question of this blog post — is the caller right?

A month after former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack dropped his bid for the 2008 presidential race, the Democrat has undertaken a mass mailing to people who formerly indicated interest in his campaign. While aides at the time touted the $1.1 million he raised between Nov. 9 and Dec. 31, 2006, now Vilsack is seeking funding to “erase our campaign debt in the next two weeks in order to pay the final bills left over from the campaign.”

In the letter dated March 20, Vilsack thanks supporters and said “we had everything to wage a strong campaign for both the Democratic nomination and general election. Everything except money. And that — money — is why I need your help today.” On Feb. 9, when he unveiled a list of 1,100 supporters, Vilsack said a solid organization is more important than plump campaign coffers. On dropping out on Feb. 23, Vilsack said it would take tens of millions of dollars to pull off a presidential campaign.

Vilsack writes that “your contribution will help bring our campaign to a positive ending,” and to pay debts to vendors, utilities, operating expenses and staff salaries. An attachment specifies that a person can donate by mailed check (the enclosed envelope needs a stamp) or by credit card at the www.tomvilsack08.com Web site.