By Alex Knott, CQ Staff

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman may be currently trailing challenger Al Franken by only 225 votes, but he is losing the race for recount funds by a much larger margin.

The recount committee of Franken, a Democrat, took in more than $980,000 during the last five weeks of 2008 while Coleman raised less than $460,000, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Franken and Coleman are locked in a courtroom fight to determine which won Minnesota’s Senate race.

Franken opened his recount fund almost an entire month before Coleman. He took in a total of almost $1.9 million, but spent it as fast as it came in.

As of the Dec. 31, Coleman’s account had $194,000 available to spend compared to $2,500 for Franken’s committee.

Because this race has drawn national attention, it is likely that both candidates have received more donations since the beginning of 2009, but those contributions will not be disclosed until later.

Subsequent reports also will show a full picture of what each campaign took in during the final days of 2008.