Oregon Public Broadcasting

National political leaders say the race to succeed Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley is one of the most-contested in the country.

Democrats say the dynamics of the race have tilted a bit in their favor since the primary.

They say some voters could be swayed by accusations that Republican candidate Mike Erickson paid for a girlfriend to have an abortion.

But regardless of the mud-slinging, fundraising in the race has kept a torrid pace.

Canby Democratic state senator Kurt Schrader raised $300,000 in the past two months, which is more than four times what Erickson was able to raise.

But Erickson is a millionaire.

His campaign manager, Jeff Harvey, says Erickson loaned the campaign an additional $340,000 after the primary.

Jeff Harvey: “Mike is not an infinite source of money, so we aren't relying on Mike. We are relying on the voters in the district to help out and contribute to the campaign.”

For his part, Schrader loaned his campaign $100,000.

Four less-competitive House races feature incumbents Greg Walden, David Wu, Earl Blumenauer and Peter Defazio. Each has more than $400,000 in campaign cash on hand.