By Alex Knott, CQ Staff

Congressional candidates have racked up more than $130 million in debt this election cycle, although some of it has been carried over from prior years. Republican House and Senate candidates lead the way with $88 million, while the Democrats are carrying $42 million in IOUs.

A significant amount of the debt from all actively filing congressional candidates is from self-loans.

During the 2008 cycle, candidates for the House and Senate listed nearly $52 million in loans to their own campaigns. Under Federal Election Commission regulations, candidates cannot close their committees until they repay their debts or have a repayment agreement approved by the Commission. These rules are why many of these financial obligations are lingering from previous campaigns.

Here are the top debtors this year, and the year they sought office, according to campaign finance reports:

• Senate candidate Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., $7,575,000, 2006

• Sen. Bob Corker , R-Tenn., $4,565,919, 2006

• House candidate Phil Sudan, R-Texas, $3,830,810, 2002

• House candidate Benjamin Earl Streusand, R-Texas, $3,489,000, 2004

• House candidate James D. Oberweis, R-Ill., $3,000,110, 2008

• Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg , D-N.J., $2,740,000, 2008

• Senate candidate Jim Pederson, D-Ariz., $2,532,972, 2006

• Sen. Maria Cantwell , D-Wash., $2,312,707, 2006

• House candidate Mike Erickson, R-Ore., $2,158,720, 2008