WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s campaign touted the news Monday that the Maine Republican had more than $2 million for her campaign at the end of March, a total that one analyst called a “very solid number.”

Snowe doesn’t yet have an announced Democratic challenger for her seat in 2012. But two tea party-affiliated candidates have announced that they will take on the three-term senator, who is considered a moderate Republican.

The deadline for federal campaign finance reports for the quarter ending March 31 is Friday. Snowe’s campaign released bottom line numbers Monday.

Snowe raised $877,019 during the first three months of this year and spent $62,433. That left her with $2.05 million at the end of the quarter.

Snowe’s campaign treasurer, Richard Bennett, said it’s a “good start” for her campaign fundraising effort.

The total raised “really signals how seriously committed she is and her supporters are to this race,” Bennett said. “The campaign needs to be prepared to tackle any challenges.”

Snowe’s fundraising is well ahead of where it was heading into her 2006 campaign. Snowe raised about $389,000 during the first three months of 2005 and had about $760,000 on hand.

In 2006, Snowe was unopposed in the Republican primary and won 74 percent of the vote in the general election.

Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington, said Snowe’s “very solid number” for the first quarter this year shows that she wants to be well prepared to beat back the type of tea party challenge that surprised several GOP establishment-backed candidates last fall.

“What went on last cycle did not go unnoticed by Snowe,” Duffy said. “She is working pretty hard to make sure if she does get a serious primary challenge, she is ready for it.”

Maine Democrats will work hard to make sure that Snowe should be worried about a general election challenge, said Ben Grant, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party.

Grant said at least four Democrats are seriously — though still privately — exploring running against Snowe. He said Snowe’s robust early fundraising indicates that the incumbent isn’t just worried about a challenge in the Republican primary.

“Even at this early stage, I can say for certain there will be a strong Democratic candidate,” Grant said. “She knows she has potentially two serious challenges in front of her: a challenger from her right in her own party, and the Democratic Party will put up a strong candidate, too.”

One of Snowe’s declared primary challengers is Scott D’Amboise, 47, of Lisbon Falls. D’Amboise, who ran against Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud in 2006, is a health care technician and owner of a commercial cleaning business. He said he will campaign on a platform of values, morals and fiscal conservatism.

Snowe’s other announced tea party-aligned challenger is Andrew Ian Dodge of Harpswell, 43, a freelance writer and a former coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots in Maine.

D’Amboise and Dodge did not return messages left Monday.

 

Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind can be contacted at 791-6280 or at:

jriskind@mainetoday.com