SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley continues to lead Steve Novick in the race for cash in their testy contest for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination that now has both sides running TV ads in the run-up to the May 20 primary.

Figures released by Merkley's campaign show he received $455,000 in the first quarter of the year, bringing his total fundraising to $1.3 million. Merkley reported having $489,000 cash on hand.

Novick got $346,000 in the first quarter, pushing the Portland activist's total to $889,000, his campaign reported. Novick's report listed $195,000 cash in the bank.

The amount raised by the two Democrats pales in comparison with the re-election fund that's been amassed by Republican Sen. Gordon Smith. The GOP incumbent reportedly has raised $8.3 million so far, and has more than $5 million cash on hand.

Still, Merkley's fundraising has enabled him to blanket the airwaves in the past week with an ad touting his accomplishments as House speaker. A second Merkley ad, featuring his wife Mary, a registered nurse, discussing health care issues, went on the air Monday.

The Novick campaign on Monday began re-airing two TV ads that have been a hit on YouTube. One has Novick using the metal prosthesis that serves as his left hand to open a voter's beer bottle. The other, which spoofs an old TV game show, plays on Novick's stature -- he's 4-foot-9.

Novick spokesman Jake Weigler said the campaign is re-running the first two ads because they created a lot of buzz on the Internet but that a third TV ad, with a different theme, will begin airing soon.

The two sides have been locked in an increasingly contentious race to win the Democratic nomination.

Novick has tried to paint Merkley as a politics-as-usual candidate. Merkley has questioned whether Novick, with the caustic comments he's made about fellow Democrats such as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, deserves Democratic voter support.

In its latest fundraising report, the Merkley campaign said it has gotten money from 4,000 contributors, including 2,300 Oregonians. In all, about 60 percent of the campaign's money has come from in-state sources in the just-ended quarter.

Novick had 3,500 total contributors, including 2,700 Oregonians who accounted for 77 percent of the campaign's total fundraising for the most recent quarter, his campaign said.

Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said the February session of the Legislature put a crimp in Merkley's fundraising but that the Portland lawmaker was pleased with his totals so far.

Weigler, Novick's campaign spokesman, said the money Novick raised in the just-ended quarter represents a 57 percent increase over the previous quarter.