Republican John Cornyn's got $8.7 million in his campaign accounts. That's about 25 times what Rick Noriega's got.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn raised $2.1 million during the first three months of the year and spent $1.2 million, bringing his reelection warchest to $8.7 million. That balance would be enough, according to one consultant, to pay for about five weeks of the sort of saturation TV ads Cornyn will want at the end of the race.

His challenger, Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega, raised $497,984 during the quarter, spent $838,690, and had $329,293 on hand at the end of March. Unlike Cornyn, he had to run a close primary during that period (Noriega barely cleared 50% to avoid a runoff), and also changed fundraisers and campaign managers during that period. With the new team on board, the campaign said fundraising has picked up.

During the election cycle so far, Cornyn has raised about $13.5 million; Noriega has raised $1.4 million — just over 10 percent of Cornyn's take.