Progress Illinois

Josh ran through Illinois' congressional second quarter fundraising numbers yesterday, but we overlooked one particularly interesting state race taking place on Chicago's North Shore. Progressive state rep candidate Daniel Biss, who we profiled in May and who has garnered significant attention for his online fundraising prowess, took home $133,735 in the first seven months of 2008 -- $50,000 more than Republican incumbent Elizabeth Coulson, according to the semiannual reports filed with the Illinois Board of Elections. From the campaign's press release:

"The men and women of the 17th District have taken a stand against complacency by joining our grassroots campaign for change," Biss said. "For the third time in a row we have been able to outraise my opponent despite her long standing alliances with special interests and political insiders. Our success is possible because of the people-powered movement we are building."

Although Biss still trails Coulson by about $20,000 in cash-on-hand (you can see Biss' report here and Coulson's here), the campaign was also encouraged by the types of donations they had amassed. Coulson generated one-third of her contributions from political action committees while Biss capped his at 10 percent. And according to the campaign, the Democrat "outperformed Coulson by 60 percent in total money raised, more than two-to-one in money raised from individual receipts, more than three-to-one in money raised from within the 17th District, and nearly 50 percent in money raised in low dollar contributions."