Lost in last week's Obamarama was a startling dispatch from the 1st Congressional District race.

Democrat Walt Minnick raised $410,253 from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, jump-starting his bid to get his party's nomination. This includes $100,000 of his own money.

The Minnick campaign was quick to compare this number with the tally for incumbent Republican Rep. Bill Sali and 2006 Democrat nominee Larry Grant, and you can understand why:

• Sali raised $58,775 during the October-to-December window, although his overall fund-raising for the election cycle sits at $318,685.

• Grant raised $24,861 for the fourth quarter, $60,781 for the campaign cycle to date.

The third Democrat in the race, Rand Lewis, has not filed a fourth-quarter report.

It is also useful to put Minnick's $410,253 figure into a little bit of historical perspective. Two years ago, eventual nominees Sali and Grant had $235,879 and $37,877 heading into the election year — and Sali was raising money with an eye toward a fractured six-way GOP primary.