Here comes the money

Gov. Bob Riley accumulated $3.8 million in contributions last year, giving him a tremendous financial advantage over his Republican challenger, former state Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose $310,000 in available campaign cash places him slightly behind former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat. Riley's closest competitor in the money race is Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, who still trails more than 3-to-1 in the contributions game even though she collected $1.2 million of them last year.

Down the ballot, Attorney General Troy King has a monetary edge on his Democratic challenger, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, Jr., though the contributions disparity is nothing like the one between Riley and his opponents.

Cash doesn't always decide elections, of course, but it seldom hurts to have too much on hand.