* There are some big ommissions in this AP story about the governor’s fundraising…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is rebuilding his prolific fundraising machine, but close in his rearview mirror are several prominent Democrats who could be eyeing a run for his office in 2010.

The AP notes that Blagojevich raised about $2 million during the last six months of 2007. What’s not mentioned, however, is that, on the whole, 2007 was by far the worst fundraising year the governor has had since before 2001, the year before his first run for office.

Blagojevich raised over $3 million in 2001, about a million more than he raised last year. He raised over a million in 2000, about half what he raised last year.

* And then there’s this…

Attorney General Lisa Madigan brought in $811,000 between July and December and has more than $2.1 million in the bank — slightly more than Blagojevich and much more than other recent gubernatorial hopefuls have had three years ahead of the next race.

Comptroller Dan Hynes was not far behind with $1.7 million. Even newcomer Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who ran and won for the first time in 2006, brought in $516,000 and had more than $650,000 overall.

Actually, when you subtract out the million dollars or so in legal debt the governor is carrying on his books, Attorney General Madigan has twice the on-hand cash as Blagojevich does. Hynes’ available cash is about $700,000 more than the governor’s.

* Something else to consider: Almost half of every dollar raised by Blagojevich last year was eaten up by legal bills from Winston & Strawn. Half.

One of the theories I have about why the governor hid his mountain of legal debt is because he didn’t want his contributors to know what was going on.

During the first six months of last year, Blagojevich raised $379,000 - the majority of which was either refunds from his pollster and a charity and a loan repayment from his inaugural committee. He actually only pulled in $127,000 in “real” contributions.

We found out this week, however, that he racked up $555,000 in legal bills during that same period - far more than he raised and a lot more than he could pay, since he ended June with $289,000 in the bank.

That’s not something you want your contributors to know about. His big fundraiser was last fall, and it was a bust in comparison to previous years. It would’ve been much worse if those contributors knew that they were bailing his campaign out of a mountain of legal debt and that almost 50 cents on their dollar was going to Winston & Strawn.

* No wonder he doesn’t want to talk about any of this…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich refused to answer questions Wednesday on why his campaign fund has racked up more than $2 million in legal bills.

* And…

The governor kept silent when followed outside by reporters, offering only a shrug before entering a waiting SUV bound for the funeral of former Cook County President John Stroger.

* Meanwhile, it looks like the governor won’t be punished for hiding those legal bills from the public and from his potential financial backers…

Despite heavy criticism from a top watchdog group, Gov. Rod Blagojevich may not get questioned on his late disclosure of a half-million dollars in campaign legal bills.

“This is the sort of thing the (election) board does get casual about,” said David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “But it seems pretty clear the governor was not being completely forthright with his disclosure.” […]

Rupert Borgsmiller, campaign disclosure director for the Illinois State Board of Elections, says that at first blush it dosen’t appear Blagojevich’s campaign broke any rules by not including the $555,255 legal tab in finance records last year.

Because Blagojevich eventually amended the earlier report to reflect the debt, he said the campaign could be in the clear.

Obviously, we need a new law.