Windfall for GOP gov’s association could mean more loot for pro-Emmer group

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The Republican Governors Association turned heads yesterday when it announced that it raised $31 million in the third quarter of 2010 and had slightly more than that amount in the bank. To put that figure in perspective, it’s three times the amount raised by its Democratic counterpart.

The GOP windfall could also prove good news for GOP nominee Tom Emmer. Minnesota’s Future, the independent political group that’s come out with the harshest television ads targeting DFL rival Mark Dayton, has received practically all of its funding from the RGA. According to the group’s last campaign finance report, it received $428,000 from the GOP governors’ group. Its only other contribution: $1,500 from Republican consultant Jeff Larson.

But as one veteran DFL strategist noted recently, the RGA is going to be occupied with a lot of other high-profile, high-dollar contests across the country. “[Minnesota’s Future] got all their initial funding from the Republican Governors Association,” he said. “And it’s hard to imagine the RGA putting more money here when they’ve got tight and extremely expensive races in California and Florida and a tightening race in Texas.”