Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said she started the year with $1 million in the bank for her re-election campaign in Minnesota’s 6th District.

That puts her well ahead of the two Democrats competing to challenge her.

State Sen. Tarryl Clark and physician Maureen Reed each started the year with campaign bank balances slightly less than $390,000.

Bachmann said she raised $591,000 in the last three months of 2009, bringing her fundraising total since her last election to $1.5 million.

The incumbent is seeking a third term in a district of suburbs surrounding the northern half of the Twin Cities and smaller cities and rural areas stretching west past St. Cloud.