When it comes to raising campaign funds, you might say the potential Republican challengers to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus are a ways behind - a long, long ways.

In documents filed Tuesday, the two of the five Republican candidates in the race who had enough money to bother reporting anything listed a respective $8,000 and $2,000 left in their campaign accounts as of March 31.

That's compared to Baucus's $6.4 million, or 800 times his nearest potential competitor.

Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has raised $10 million in campaign funds since his last re-election, and had $6.4 million cash on hand in his campaign account March 31.

But state Rep. Michael Lange, one of the two Billings Republicans who filed a campaign-finance report Tuesday, said he doesn't expect money to be that much of a problem for Republicans in the Baucus race.

Once a winner emerges from the June 3 primary election, Republicans will start opening up their wallets to help their nominee take on Baucus, Lange said. Baucus is a Democrat running for his sixth consecutive six-year term in the Senate.

"At the end of the primary, the conservatives and the Republicans have a decision to make: Will they sit on the sidelines, or will they engage?" he said. "I think they're going to engage."

Lange reported raising $4,300 during the three-month period that ended March 31, upping his campaign's total to nearly $12,000 since last year. He'd spent all but $2,000 of the money by March 31, and Lange said on Tuesday he had about $1,000 left in his campaign account.

"We haven't had time (to raise money), with all the traveling I've been doing," he said.

Kirk Bushman, the other Republican who filed a campaign report, did better than Lange, raising $21,000 during the first three months of the year. However, he still had only $8,000 in his account as of March 31 - and listed $15,000 in campaign debt.

Bushman, a facility designer from Billings, said he's held only one organized fund-raising event, at the end of March, and plans to concentrate more on raising money now.

"We certainly have to hit high gear now (in raising money)," he said Tuesday. "Our goal is to raise money in Montana and demonstrate to Montanans that that's where we're getting our money."

Bushman said the $15,000 debt is owed primarily to himself, for unreimbursed cash expenses of the campaign and a $5,350 cash loan he made to the campaign.

Like Lange, he said he's looking forward to see how the fund-raising goes after the primary chooses a nominee.

Lange raised all of his money from individuals; Bushman raised all but $66 from individuals. The $66 came from the Pondera County Republican Central Committee in Conrad.

About $5,000 of Bushman's donations this year came from family members. He's one of 12 children.

Three other Republicans in the race - Missoula accountant Patty Lovaas, St. Regis truck driver and rancher Anton Pearson and Butte attorney Bob Kelleher - said they haven't raised enough money to require the filing of a report.

The Federal Election Commission requires candidates to file reports if they raise more than $5,000.