The most recent political party campaign finance reports were released last week, and the Montana Democratic Party has a slight lead over their counterparts.  However, for the most recent period, the MT GOP raised over 3 times as much as the MDP - the MT GOP raised $27,460 over the period (May 1 - May 31), compared to a paltry $7,464 for the MDP.

The MT GOP reported an ending cash on hand of $115k, but with no debt.  The Democrats reported a COH of $179k, but with $44k in debt, or $134k in cash after debt.

Another interesting part of the report is that the MT GOP is raising a lot more money from individual donors.  As of May 31, the MT GOP had raised $129k from individuals, compared with only $75k from individuals for the MDP.  The reverse was true for PAC contributions - the MDP has raised $48k from PACs, compared with only $3k in PAC contributions for the MT GOP.  MDP has also received $14k from its national party committees; the MT GOP has received no transfers.

The two parties seem to be following a trend from the previous election cycle where the MT GOP is dependent on in-state, small-contribution donors and the MDP is dependent on PAC contributions and transfers from its national party affiliates and from out-of-state, large-contribution donors.  To put it in perspective, in 2004, the MDP raised $691k from only 458 donors, compared with the MT GOP raising $650k from 7,324 donors.