Outside groups have spent $4.8 million on gov race, $6.8 million on House

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Glenn Howatt

The cash has started pouring on to the races to control the governor's office and the Minnesota House.

So far, outside groups not controlled by candidates have spent $4.8 million on the governor's race and $6.8 million on the individual races for state House.

Right now, Democrats control both and Republicans are fighting to wrest that control away.

Democrats have been the beneficiary of more of the outstate cash than Republicans.

According to figures made public on Tuesday, supporters of the Democratic House and the governor have spent $2.6 million to back them up in next week's election. Democratic detractors have spent $1.6 million against them.

Meanwhile, $5.2 million has been spent to going after Republicans and $2.3 million has been spent to support them. Nearly $3.3 million of it has gone toward ads tearing down Republican candidate for governor Jeff Johnson.

The lopsided spending is largely rooted in the wealth of two groups: The Alliance for a Better Minnesota and the Democratic Farmer Labor Party. Both have backing from wealthy Minnesotans, including Alida Messinger, Gov. Mark Dayton's ex-wife, and unions.

The DFL and the Alliance is responsible for $6 million of the total $11 million in spending.

Although those groups have overwhelmed Republican spending in the governor's race, Republicans are on a more even plain in the legislative battle.

The numbers reported on Tuesday do not include the significant spending political non-profits have done. Those non-profits, which include the Republican-supporting Americans for Prosperity and the Minnesota Action Network, have spent considerable sums on campaign for House.

Nearly $900,000 in spending by the Freedom Club, a pro-Republican group, is not included in the overall independent spending figures. That's because the Club's television ads, which went after Dayton and the DFL House, did not specifically advise viewers to vote a certain way were not reported to the state as direct political spending.

Here are the top ten spenders: