Allen raises $2M in second quarter, touts welfare reform in new ad

Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) raised $2 million in the past three months, his strongest fundraising quarter to date, and has used some of that money to run an ad touting his work as governor to reform the state's welfare system.

While Allen's haul was a strong one, he was again outpaced by former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), who brought in $3 million for the second quarter. They are competing for retiring Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) seat.

Allen has $3.34 million in the bank after spending $1.4 million this past quarter, some of it on television ads. Kaine has $2.7 million in the bank as well as $3.5 million of purchased air time for the fall (Allen has reserved, but not yet paid for, $3.4 million in television).

Allen's new ad continues a string of positive biographical spots from the campaign featuring female Virginians that his campaign says is running statewide, although they did not disclose how much money is behind the ad.

"When George Allen believes in something, he doesn't stop working until it becomes a reality,” Kay Coles James, an African-American Republican who served as his state Health and Human Services secretary, says in the ad. "Welfare reform was far from easy and most people believed it to be impossible. But not George Allen. As governor, he working diligently across party lines to help many Virginians know the dignity of self-sufficiency through work. George Allen is exactly the kind of leader Virginians need in the U.S. Senate."

The Hill rates the race a "tossup."

Watch Allen's ad: