Year-end campaign finance reports show that Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson led the pack when it came to raising campaign money in 2005, although the Democrat hasn't yet announced his campaign intentions.

The reports, available on the secretary of state's Web site, show that Johnson had raised $84,900 and had $79,000 of cash on hand at the time of filing.

That gives Johnson almost a 9-to-1 advantage over Republican Doug Goehring, who ran against Johnson in 2004 and lost by 1,878 votes. Goehring and Ward County Commissioner Jim Lee have announced they are seeking the Republican endorsement for agriculture commissioner.

Although Goehring retained his campaign committee even after losing the race in 2004, he said he hasn't been busy raising money.

Goehring reported $4,660 in contributions and $8,909 of cash on hand.

Johnson said that he won't be announcing his intentions for a few weeks.

Goehring is expecting Johnson to challenge him.

"Ihave a strong feeling he's going to run,"Goehring said.

In 2004 Goehring reported total contributions of $122,000 and Johnson reported a total of $179,700.

The 2005 reports were due to Secretary of State Al Jaeger on Tuesday, although some reports had not yet reached his office by the end of the business day.

"They do run it right up to the end," Jaeger said.

Jaeger said candidates have until midnight to fax or e-mail reports, and as long as they are postmarked Jan. 31 or earlier, they can arrive after the due date.

The reports also show that Tax Commissioner Cory Fong, a Republican, had raised $33,000 in 2005 and had about $31,000 of cash on hand at the time of filing.

Jim Fuglie, executive director of the Democratic-NPLParty, said he doesn't expect a Democratic challenger to have much trouble catching up to Fong in campaign money. Democrat Brent Edison announced Monday that he is seeking the endorsement from his party to run for tax commissioner.

"There's not much difference between zero and $31,000,"Fuglie said.

Ken Karls, chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, said Fong's $31,000 is a nice showing considering he announced his campaign on Tuesday.

"Ithink he will be very good at fundraising,"Karls said. "People will respond to him because Cory is a very likeable guy."

Karls said the Democrats have typically outspent the Republicans in statewide elections because Democrats get help from their congressional candidates.

"Typically what happens is their federal candidates come through and dump a pile of cash at the end,"Karls said.

The Associated Press reported in October that Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., had $3 million in campaign money and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., had $741,700.

Fuglie said it costs between $100,000 and $150,000 to run a campaign for a statewide office.

"That's unfortunate, but that's what it costs now days,"Fuglie said.

(Reach reporter Tom Rafferty at 223-8482 or tom.rafferty@;bismarcktribune.com.)