the indy star has a "horse race" piece about indiana's 86th district (state house) race between david orentlicher (who i met last week) and kathryn densborn. the focus of the story is on the GOP's intensive efforts to dethrone orentlicher, but what really stood out to me was this fact:

The intensity of the race can be seen in fundraising reports, which on Friday showed both Densborn and Orentlicher having raised more than $220,000 each for a job that pays a base salary of only $11,600 a year.

wow, both candidates have raised more than $220 grand in a race for the state house? that's a lot of money, relatively speaking.

in fact, that's not just a lot for a state legislature race, it's substantially more than eric dickerson, the GOP candidate for the US house in the 7th district (which overlaps but does not fully envelop indiana's 86th district). dickerson intially claimed he could run his campaign on $200,000, but now acknowledges he won't raise even close to that. as of september 30th, dickerson had raised a paltry $58,575.

that's pretty pathetic, if you ask me, and it should tell you a thing or two about the seriousness of dickerson's campaign.¶