SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – An easy primary win, a prolific fundraising pace and a cash-strapped challenger have given Gov. Rod Blagojevich a big money lead in his re-election bid this fall, according to new campaign finance totals.

The governor brought in about $6.5 million in the first six months of 2006 and spent nearly $10 million, much of that on television advertisements promoting his re-election bid after easily winning the March Democratic primary, a campaign spokeswoman said Monday.

That left him with about $12.2 million in the bank as of June 30 – far more than the $1.5 million his Republican opponent, state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, had on that date.

Topinka raised about $3.2 million in the first half of the year and spent more than $3 million of that to win a heated Republican primary against three other largely self-financed candidates, her campaign said Monday.

A campaign finance expert said Topinka must work hard just to compete with the governor financially.

“She’s not going to out-raise the governor and outspend him … but she’s in a pretty tenuous situation,” said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

The candidates were to detail the money they raised and spent in the first six months of the year in reports filed with the State Board of Elections.

Topinka’s report shows she spent more than half the $3 million on television ads.

It also shows $100,000 checks from two Chicago-area business executives-the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Association of Realtors-$50,000 apiece from the Illinois State Medical Society and Illinois Hospital Association and dozens of small amounts, some as low as $100.

The two campaigns used the new money details to tout their own success and hammer each other’s shortcomings.

Blagojevich’s campaign said in a statement that the totals show the governor is leading the campaign in many facets.

“While Judy Baar Topinka engages in finger pointing and excuse-making, Governor Blagojevich is providing real leadership to get things done for working families in Illinois,” Blagojevich campaign spokeswoman Sheila Nix said.

Topinka’s campaign said in a statement that Topinka raised more than $1.8 million from the March primary until June 30. She’s tacked on much more through recent appearances by high-profile Republicans such as President George W. Bush and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in July – which was not included in her six-month tally.

Topinka spokesman John McGovern also said the governor’s large War chest is designed to shield him from any political fallout from an ongoing federal investigation of alleged hiring improprieties in his administration.

“While he may have more money, Rod Blagojevich remains highly unpopular, because he promised to clean up Springfield but instead has offered more-of-the-same in terms of investigations, mismanagement and skyrocketing state debt,” McGovern said.

Redfield said Topinka’s totals don’t necessarily put her in a bad position compared to Republican Jim Ryan, who had just $690,000 in cash at the end of June 2002 before losing to Blagojevich that November.

But he said Blagojevich’s huge money lead will make it harder for Topinka to compete with the governor in reaching voters through advertisements and other avenues. Furthermore, Blagojevich, who has shattered Illinois’ campaign cash records in recent years, has shown a knack for raising millions of dollars heading into the final stretches of the campaign.

“The picture is not an impossible situation, but it’s certainly not where you want to be,” Redfield said. “You can really fall off the cliff.”

In a letter filed separately Monday evening with the State Board of Elections, Blagojevich returned donations worth more than $2,000 to four donors without explanation. Nix said the donations likely came from state employees and the campaign’s policy is not to accept contributions from state employees.