Kurt Schraeder

The clock is ticking for campaign fundraisers: Monday at midnight marks the close of financial reporting for the second quarter.

The reporting period, which spanned from April 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008, will be a marker of which candidates have added to their war chest, which candidates have enough money to maintain their run and which candidates may be falling behind in the money game.

The reports will help bring to light two of the state's most hotly contested races, the U.S. Senate race and the 5th Congressional District race.

Kevin Mannix, an attorney and former state Republican Party Chair who is running for the Fifth District seat that Democrat Darlene Hooley is vacating, has won the endorsement of the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“Kevin has a long history of supporting Oregon’s agricultural industry, he has a proven voting record and an open door policy which gives him broad appeal with the Oregon Farm Bureau,” said Barry Bushue, the president of the Oregon Farm Bureau.