Mark Kirk Raised $2.3M This Spring; Spent $1.4M

Mark Kirk's Senate campaign reports that he raised $2.3 million dollars in the spring quarter, despite weathering a scandal that appeared to damage his campaign.

Of that $2.3 million, the campaign says $1 million came in the month of June alone, a month in which continued revelations about exaggerations and embellishments of Kirk's resume caused the Republican candidate to run from the press, literally and figuratively.

The total makes this the best fundraising quarter in Kirk's campaign effort to date, as the Chicago Tribune reported. He raised $2.2 million in the previous quarter.

A campaign press release issued Thursday also reveals that Kirk has just shy of $4 million in cash on hand. He ended last quarter with just over $3 million, meaning that the campaign spent roughly $1.4 million of the money it took in.

Rich Miller at the Capitol Fax blog describes that 58 percent egress of funds as "a heckuva burn rate." And only around $160,000 of that money went to buying airtime for commercials, a source told the Tribune.

Meanwhile, Kirk's Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, has not yet released his fundraising numbers for the quarter. He trailed Kirk in cash on hand at the end of last quarter, and weathered a scandal of his own in the past three months as his family's Broadway Bank was closed by federal regulators. His campaign said they would release his fundraising numbers after the holiday weekend.

But Giannoulias' campaign also had several high-profile fundraisers, including ones hosted by Joe Biden, Arne Duncan and David Plouffe.

Both sides are hoping to put money in the bank as they prepare for four more grueling months of campaigning before the November elections.