Congressional candidate Tim Walz of Mankato continued to be competitive with six-term incumbent Congressman Gil Gutknecht in raising money for the fall campaign.

But after Walz out-raised Gutknecht by $22,000 in the first quarter of the year — a rare occurrence for a challenger — both sides had numbers to cheer about with the release of the second-quarter campaign finance reports. Gutknecht, a Republican from Rochester, generated more than $205,000 in April, May and June, topping the $202,291 raised by Walz.

Essentially matching Gutknecht is an accomplishment for a first-time candidate running against a six-term incumbent, according to Walz.

“I’m very pleased with our fund-raising numbers,” the Democrat said. “We’re getting the hang of this, and we’re gaining some momentum.”

Gutknecht campaign manager Nels Pierson was also satisfied with the results, saying Gutknecht not only raised more money than Walz but also added to the bottom-line advantage by spending less during the quarter.

“We increased our cash on hand by $17,940 more than he increased his cash on hand because we spent less money than he did,” Pierson said. “We’re actually further ahead of him this quarter.”

And that spread is still a big one, thanks to the $620,000 Gutknecht’s campaign had in the bank coming into 2006. Because of the head start, Gutknecht still has a more than three-to-one cash advantage — $826,391 compared to $252,829 — even though Walz has raised more money this year.

“We’re in a comfortable financial position,” said Pierson, who expects the month-long congressional recess in August to be a prime time for Gutknecht to raise additional funds.

Walz, meanwhile, can take heart that he has reduced his opponent’s cash advantage over the past six months from 15-to-one to less than four-to-one.

The cash could come in handy for both campaigns in October if the race appears to be a relatively tight one. Walz will use his funds to buy advertising aimed at boosting his name recognition and persuading 1st District voters that the time has come to end their 12-year habit of voting for Gutknecht.

Gutknecht, who could be facing his stiffest challenge since 1996 when Eyota economist Mary Rieder won 47 percent of the vote, may be forced to do substantially more advertising than in his past three elections. Opinion polls nationwide are showing deep dissatisfaction among many voters with the Republican-led Congress, growing opposition to the Iraq War and concern about rising prices — especially for gasoline — all of which could contribute to a more volatile election on Nov. 7.

“There’s a frustration nationally,” Pierson said. “But this congressman has successfully done his job. ... We’ll make sure the people of the 1st District are aware of this congressman’s tireless work for the district.”

If the race appears competitive, outside special interest groups may target the district for attack advertisements that each campaign would like to be able to counter. Walz is also concerned that Gutknecht might run negative advertising if he feels threatened — something he did in earlier campaigns, including a television ad portraying Rieder as a free-spending liberal busting into children’s piggy banks to take their money.

Walz said his ability to respond to any negative advertising will depend on having $600,000 to $800,000 available for ads of his own in October and early November. Gutknecht will inevitably have more than that, but Walz said that’s OK as long both sides are well represented on the airwaves.

“There’s only so many ads you can run in this district,” he said. “I think there’s a saturation point, where if you run too many it becomes detrimental.”