Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline raised slightly more money than his Democratic challenger for the latest campaign finance reporting period, but Kline maintains a healthy lead overall in the race to represent Minnesota's Second Congressional District.

From July 26 to the end of September, Kline brought in $286,000 for his re-election bid while Mike Obermueller raised $276,500 during the same period.

For the entire third quarter, Kline raised $393,000 to Obermueller's $331,000.

Overall, Kline has raised $2.1 million this election cycle and has $1.4 million of that stocked away with less than a month until Election Day. Obermueller, who entered the race in May, has raised $584,000 since then and has $370,200 cash-on-hand.

Kline has represented the Second Congressional District since 2003 and he beat his last Democratic opponent by more than 25 points, but national Democrats are optimistic about their chances of unseating him.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- which works to elect Democrats to the U.S. House -- has targeted Kline's seat because he lost Republican-leaning portions of his district and picked up parts of the state with more DFL voters when the state's political boundaries were redrawn this year

The DCCC added Obermueller, a former state legislator, to their "Red to Blue" list this summer, a sign that Democrats in D.C. will lend financial and strategic support to Obermueller's campaign.

There are two other Minnesota congressional candidates on the "Red to Blue" List -- former congressman Rick Nolan, who's taking on Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, and hotel magnate Jim Graves, who's trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. Both Nolan and Graves have internal or independent poll results that show their races are dead heats. Poll numbers for the Second District contest have not been publicly released.