But his campaign fundraising so far doesn't show it.

Christensen had just over $103,000 in cash on hand through the end of June, according to financial disclosure forms filed Friday with the Federal Elections Commission. In contrast, incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson has a well-padded campaign fund, with more than $1 million to spend.

Christensen isn't worried.

"Some of these deadlines are artificial milestones," he said. "I think we're well-positioned. We're just getting started."

The Matheson camp was expecting more robust fundraising from their opponent.

"Jim Matheson never takes anything for granted, but he's feeling confident at this stage of the campaign," said Campaign Manager Lindsay Zizumbo.

To be fair, John Swallow, Matheson's 2004 Republican challenger, had only about $105,000 in his campaign account at this point in the race. Swallow ended up spending $1.5 million in a failed bid to unseat Utah's lone Democratic member of Congress. Matheson spent more than $2 million in that race, a record for a Utah congressional race.

Matheson isn't ruling out a similarly expensive race this year. But political prognosticators have handicapped him to win the race. "We will raise whatever it takes to get the message out," he said through a spokeswoman.

Christensen has loaned his campaign at least $150,000 and paid about $50,000 for campaign expenditures in the past few months. "I wanted to make sure from month to month that we could make good decisions," Christensen said. "I feel good about where we are."

The GOP legislator has tapped traditional Republican money wells to collect nearly $79,000 in donations.

Christensen received $12,000 from the Lichfield family of southern Utah, owners of several treatment facilities for troubled teens. The Campaign for America's Future donated $5,000 to his campaign. And the two-term state legislator collected donations from several of his GOP legislative colleagues, including Draper Rep. Greg Hughes, Spanish Fork Rep. Mike Morley, St. George Rep. Brad Last and Kanab Rep. Mike Noel.

During the same campaign reporting quarter, Matheson collected more than $292,000, including donations from construction contractors and labor interests. He received $5,000 from the AFL-CIO Political Action Committee and $4,000 from the American Federation of Teachers. The National Association of Homebuilders chipped in $5,000.

In other filings, U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon reported spending a total of $842,000 - including $248,000 between the pre-primary deadline and Friday - to hold off Republican challenger John Jacob in the June primary. Jacob reported spending $442,000 - including $103,000 between the pre-primary deadline and Friday - in his bid to unseat Cannon. As of June 30, Cannon reported collecting $292,000, leaving him with $136,000 in cash. Jacob reported receiving $24,000, leaving him with just over $9,200 in his campaign fund.

Cannon faces Democrat Christian Burridge in the Nov. 7 general election.

And the gap between Sen. Orrin Hatch and Democratic challenger Pete Ashdown widened. At the end of the quarter, Ashdown had gathered about $35,000 in donations, leaving him with $12,800 in cash. Hatch, on the other hand, collected $578,000 and had nearly $2.5 million on hand.

District 1

* Rob Bishop: not available by Friday evening

* Steve Olsen: $4,300 contributions/$1,300 cash on hand

District 2

* LaVar Christensen: $79,000 contributions/$103,400 cash on hand

* Jim Matheson: $292,300 contributions/$1.03 million cash on hand

District 3

* Christian Burridge: $7,800 contributions/$4,400 in cash on hand

* Chris Cannon: $292,000 contributions/$136,100 in cash on hand

* John Jacob: $24,400 contributions/$9,200 in cash on hand

U.S. Senate

* Pete Ashdown: $35,000 in contributions/$12,800 in cash on hand

* Orrin Hatch: $577,900 in contributions/$2.49 million in cash on hand